Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Many voluntary sponsoring groups and sponsoring chairmen are largely unaware of the full responsibility being placed on them because of the efficiency of the supervisors in looking after all aspects of the schemes. The Department does not seem to acknowledge the vast amount of work being undertaken by supervisors, and how constantly changing procedures and requirements make this role extremely difficult. This group of people do not have pensions or contracts of indefinite duration and have had no pay increases in the past ten years despite Labour Court recommendations. The benchmarking procedure relating to them has been abandoned and there has been a long, drawn-out process regarding pensions. The latter are currently being examined by the community sector high-level forum. Having spoken with a number of supervisors, I know that they do not hold out any great hope of a positive outcome in the context of the forum's consideration of the pensions issue.

Will the Taoiseach acknowledge the tremendous work being done by CE schemes and ensure that the Department rights a wrong for supervisors by providing them with proper contracts, a pay increase and pension rights, which are long overdue?

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