James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I echo and endorse everything my colleague, Deputy McConalogue, said. I have a very similar position. The Minister's answer touched on this a number of times. Are these schemes intended solely as job activation measures or are they recognised as having a social inclusion element, which is absolutely essential? As Deputy McConalogue alluded to, many of these schemes facilitate individuals who may not be in a position to attract normal, gainful employment and who may not be able to contribute in a commercial environment but who can contribute effectively, productively and usefully to their communities. There are two groups of people affected by the difficulty in sourcing people for community employment schemes, the difficulty getting onto Tús schemes and the impact that JobPath, Turas Nua and Seetec are having on that. We have two groups of people who are losing out. We have the individuals themselves who in many cases are denied the opportunity for dignified and worthwhile activity and an occupation that gives them pride, a reason to get up in the mornings and all the other good things such as contributing to mental health. We also have the host organisations, whether they are GAA clubs, parish councils, tidy towns groups, local history groups or heritage groups, which are invariably working in the community on a not-for-profit basis. They are coming to us and saying they do not have the stream of assistance which was beneficial to both the individual and the host organisation. It conflicts with the two new providers, Turas Nua and Seetec, which maybe have a more commercial focus. There are measures that could be introduced to tackle that and let them work more closely together in a more collaborative fashion. I hope the Minister will look at that.

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