Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The half year Exchequer returns boasted of another year of record tax yields. I hope there will be more investment and supports, particularly for our young people in this programme. The Minister said there is an allocation of more than €24 million but ideally I would like it to be much more than that and I hope the Minister will champion this. We heard from co-ordinators who feel that the reduction in funding has resulted in more targeted intervention. They feel more targeted intervention is causing a stigma among young people and a broader approach might be helpful. We have also had issues with contracts of employment and pay for staff who work in the scheme. I understand this has been raised by their trade union. Can the Minister outline whether any progress has been made on that issue? The Minister said a new task force has been set up and there will be a new SCP scheme. When will the task force's recommendations be published?

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