Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Beidh an Teachta Maureen O'Sullivan anseo freisin. I support the motion and I thank Fianna Fáil for tabling it. I have no hesitation in supporting it. I ask the Minister of State to withdraw the amendment because it does not make sense on any level. It is an embarrassment to read with its reference to careful consideration, and this, as has been said, after ten years. I certainly would not like to be in the position of the Minister of State, having to read a reply that tells us we will have careful consideration or a reply that mentions an amendment about private companies. It is most disingenuous to talk about companies when communities are forced to set them up by Government policy and are then blamed for not paying pensions.

I want to read out something presented to us at the Committee of Public Accounts by the Department of Finance. The Government is talking about a time of straitened finances at present, but in his opening statement to the committee the Secretary General of the Department of Finance told us:

The robust pace of recovery in the economy continued in 2017, with GDP increasing by 7.8%. The increase in economic activity is broadly based and the economic fundamentals are strong. Ireland has been one of the fastest growing economies in the European Union in the past four years.

I could quote much from it but my final quote is that he said the "[k]ey economic indicators point to continued solid growth this year". This is what the Department of Finance is telling us. This is the time to ask how we make up for the lapse of ten years and how we give a pension. We will never do it if we do not do it now.

We have all received representations on this matter, in my case by email and on the ground in my constituency in Galway. On top of this, we receive urgent representations all the time with regard to two other matters. These are from people desperately trying to get onto community employment schemes who cannot do so, and with regard to the difficulty posed by the Government schemes of Seetec and Turas Nua, which prevent people going on community employment schemes.

This ties in with the amendment because the Government seems to know the value of nothing based on what it does put a value on. The amendment mentions careful consideration, the high-level forum established and a scoping exercise that was carried out with input from the Irish Government Economic Evaluation Service on the potential costs. What struck me immediately was reference to potential costs. What about the value of what community employment schemes do for all of our communities? Did the Government ever think about putting a value on this or even doing a scoping exercise on it to see the millions being saved to the Government by these schemes and by the supervisors who are an integral part of them? It might be a bad example but, as with a good teacher in a classroom, without a good supervisor we will not have people coming out of these courses with dignity. This is what the community employment scheme is all about. It is about dignity and providing opportunities for people who are not disadvantaged but whom the system has disadvantaged by failing them. On the other side of it are the advantages for the community.

I ask the Government to see a little bit of sense and withdraw this nonsensical amendment. It is an embarrassment and does not do anything for the Government. It does not make sense given the statement from the Department of Finance and it certainly does not make sense from the point of view of the communities. Try a scoping exercise on the value of the community employment schemes to this country and the money they save.

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