Frank O'Rourke (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I note the Minister's comment on the CE schemes and that she has said she is accepting amendments Nos. 11 and 12 in respect of the CE schemes and the Tús schemes. We are not suggesting for a second that just because someone can stay on such a scheme, we have no ambition for them. I have discussed the Tús schemes with the Minister and her officials before. The point is that after a year, they have to leave the Tús scheme and go onto JobPath. They are on JobPath to help them find full-time employment but they can do JobPath for maybe two hours a week and still participate in their Tús scheme. That was the whole principle behind this. It was not about not having ambition for the person at all; it was completely the opposite. We are asking for flexibility to allow people to go onto JobPath when they finish the Tús scheme after a year but, because they are only doing that for two or three hours a week, for the balance of 15 or 16 hours they could continue to do their Tús scheme. This is of benefit to them, to the community and to the host. That gap has always existed in society and probably always will. Those people like making a contribution. There is a social side to it and it is a good contribution to the community as well.

Being allowed the flexibility to stay on the Tús scheme while engaging with JobPath would not make people any less ambitious than anybody else. If they are offered or see full-time employment being advertised for which they are eligible to apply they will do so. The Minister knows the notion that allowing people to stay on a Tús or CE scheme for longer than a year or X number of years makes them lacking in ambition and that they will stay there and will not bother seeking full-time employment is simply not true. I have discussed it with her outside the Chamber. She knows it is not fair to say because it is all individually driven. If a person wants to seek full-time employment he or she will work day and night to do it. While they are doing that they should have the support of JobPath and the flexibility to extend the Tús scheme beyond a year to benefit themselves and the community.

There is nothing in that equation that cannot happen by allowing them that flexibility. It is all benefit and all positively driven. That is what Deputy O'Dea is asking the Minister to consider. Because of the level of unemployment, which the Minister acknowledges to be at about 5.5%, there are fewer participants coming through the Tús schemes to fill posts. We end up with a person doing JobPath for two or three hours a week and doing nothing the rest of the time. They are looking for full-time work but they are not engaged in a community scheme such as Tús. The host group, the local athletics club or whatever, is left without that position filled and there is a loss to the community and the individual. This is about flexibility. Everyone benefits and it is in no way holding back anyone's ambition or being negative at all. It is completely the opposite.

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