Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To be 100% sure, I did not say the CE schemes and Tús were unsustainable. They are not providing sustainable, long-term jobs and they were never designed to do that. They are employment activation schemes, which is what it says in the documents from when the Deputy's party started CE schemes. Many people are providing services in their communities and I agree with the Deputy that communities could not survive without them. I acknowledge, respect and totally appreciate what they do. They do not see it as employment activation; they genuinely see it as a job and a service and they are incredibly proud to do it. We have broken hearts by the way the system currently operates. If one reads between the lines, I am telling the Deputy I agree with him. If a CE placement gives a person pride in serving his or her community, I do not see the benefit, if he or she does not have a job to go to, of taking the person off that scheme and sending him or her home to be in his or her house for a year before he or she can qualify. We are continually looking at the two schemes and if and when I can make changes to reflect what I think the Deputy feels, I will try to make those changes. The difficulty we have is they were established purely as activation measures to move people into jobs. In some cases, with older people, for example, those jobs just do not exist. I think I agree with the Deputy.

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