John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

While the Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy, is welcome and while I acknowledge that many of the questions we have asked in the past have been answered by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, it is very disappointing that the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection is not here tonight. It represents a big mistake on the part of the Government to fail to recognise the role and significance of community employment schemes in all of our constituencies and the long-running issue of pension provision for the supervisors and assistant supervisors of those schemes. It is a big mistake that she is not here tonight.

There is not one Member of the House who does not have a scheme in his or her area. Apart from the beneficial effects for the individuals who participate on schemes, many activities in our communities would not survive without them. Community employment is grossly undervalued but many of the Members here tonight recognise and appreciate the services that have been provided. I acknowledge one particular group, not by name but by category. In the region of 1,000 people are on drug rehabilitation programmes on special schemes nationally. They come through very difficult and challenging times and community employment provides them with an opportunity to reintegrate into the workplace. It may be a longer path for them than for others, but I have seen at first hand that it is a real opportunity.

Behind every successful scheme are the supervisors and assistant supervisors who make it happen. I will not go back over the history lesson provided by Deputy O'Dea given the time available, but this issue has been going around for ten years. In the early years following the Labour Court recommendation, it is acknowledged that there was a recession and FÁS did not have the funding. However, we have moved on radically from that place. As Deputy O'Dea said, it was determined in the context of the Lansdowne Road agreement that a high-level forum would be established. It met five times. In my view, the high-level forum has actually been used to frustrate the process instead of to facilitate a resolution.

When I last asked about this on 30 November 2017, the Minister of State's Department replied that a meeting of the forum had taken place on Thursday, 23 November, at which the findings of the scoping exercise were shared with the members. The reply further stated that a follow-up meeting to deal with the technical questions arising from the exercise was to be arranged in the coming weeks. The problem is that the follow-up meeting has not taken place and we are now at the end of April. The forum, which should produce results and deal with the issue, has failed and it is frustrating the process. I appeal to the Minister of State to deal with this proactively. These people are entitled to have the Labour Court's recommendations implemented at this stage.

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