Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Community employment, CE, schemes have transformed rural towns and villages throughout the country and given exceptional support to charitable groups and organisations. They worked extremely well for years until the Government started tinkering with them, constantly changing the rules and regulations to such an extent that their future is being put in jeopardy. Sponsors are being scared off by the increasingly demanding conditions being placed on them, on the supervisors they employ to run these schemes and on participants. We saw evidence of this in Galway city earlier this year when a project which provided valuable experience was closed by the sponsoring group. This was probably not the first - it certainly will not be the last - sponsor to pull out of a CE scheme or decide against opting into one because of the barriers that are placed in the way of the schemes.

While this Government and the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection claim to be supportive of the work being done through CE schemes, their actions suggest otherwise. The only satisfied party involved is the Department. The time participants are allowed to spend on schemes and the amount of training involved have both been reduced. Costs have risen but cuts to the budget for materials have not been restored. This has resulted in a fall in productivity of the schemes. It also means that there is no sustainability of service. CE schemes are among the few subventions the State offers to voluntary groups, whose sustainability often depends on the work being carried out by the participants on the scheme. The constant changing of work practices of participants and supervisors and the obligations of sponsors have diminished the appeal of these schemes for everyone. It is funny that the Department should constantly trot out the line that the people taking part in these schemes are not employed by it. In doing so, it can keep them at arm's length. However, it is the Department which keeps laying down new demands on how the schemes should be run.

I would like to pay special tribute to the supervisors, who are the linchpins of the schemes.

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