Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate because 25,000 people throughout the length and breadth of the country benefit from community employment schemes as either participants or supervisors. We in Fianna Fáil recognise the work of supervisors. Community employment plays a crucial role in supporting people getting back into employment and the schemes carry out invaluable work at community and local level which, over the years, the State and commercial sector have failed to do. The success of the schemes is due substantially and in large degree to the work of supervisors and assistant supervisors. The supervisor is the go-to person in the local community when one wants something done. Whether one is a member of the community or a community employment sponsor, nothing can happen without the supervisor playing that pivotal role.

Over the years, my colleagues and I have raised the issue of the failure to provide for and honour the right of supervisors to an occupational pension by way of Government funding and we will continue to do so.

We hope that as result of this debate tonight we will make substantial progress.

We all know the matter went to the Labour Court which made a recommendation. Governments of all descriptions, time and time again, have always respected the State's industrial dispute resolution mechanisms. It is wrong of this Government to ignore the Labour Court when it expects everyone else to adhere to its recommendations. The Government must honour the institutions of the State and not undermine them by refusing to do so.

As a result of that recommendation, the Estimates voted in this Chamber for several years in a row provided for €10 million to be made available through FÁS. However, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection did not implement it. As a result, on both occasions those moneys were handed back to the Department of Finance. At this stage, it is in the hands of the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform to bring back the moneys previously voted in this House for this scheme. There is no point in any high-level review unless there is an agreement from the Minister to provide funding to deliver this. Above all, I want the Government to do that before the next budget as part of pay and pension restoration for people who work in the public good.

I thank all those who travelled the length and breadth of the country to be in the Visitors Gallery tonight. We are delighted to have such a large group here. We want to work with them to deliver this. We are asking the Minister of State to do the same.

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