Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

9 o’clock

I welcome all the community employment supervisors, many of whom I have met, particularly my colleagues in Tipperary, of whom a huge number are here. I acknowledge the work of SIPTU and Eddie Mullins in particular. It was acknowledged that this issue has been sorted. I look at the Fine Gael benches and the low number of people who have turned up, in fairness to the couple of people who have turned up, and there is an unwillingness to sort out this issue. The memorandum for Government is done and this is it in my hand. It is completed. I know because it was done through me and the then Minister, Deputy Howlin. The funding stream has been set aside. The administrator of this, with whom discussions took place, was Pobal. It is all in place. I have to admit I was committed to doing this. It was left like that for the Government to implement and why it has not been implemented two years later says more to me about the Government and its priorities than it does about anybody else.

It is very simple to implement it. There is a legislative basis under a local government miscellaneous provisions Act and there is a provision put aside by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, which was done following negotiations with Deputy Howlin at the time. Please act on it. There was also a letter to the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, from SIPTU in September 2016 which outlines that there is a precedent from the ex gratiapayments made to workers made redundant under the local community and development programme, LCDP, which was terminated and became the social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP.

We have a legislative process, if necessary following legal advice from the Attorney General, we have the funding put aside and we have a precedent. Everything is in place except the willingness to implement the work done. Look at the impact of all of the supervisors here, and all of those in the AV room and around the building because they cannot fit in the Gallery, on a range of schemes and lives throughout Ireland and think about this as a Government. Think about the impact they have had and could have on the Government if it does not implement this and do what is right. Everything is provided for. It is a Labour Court recommendation, so please do the right thing by these people who are all here.

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