Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

CE schemes are established to help people who are unemployed for the long term. Anybody unfortunate to lose his or her job as a result of a hard Brexit, which we all hope does not occur, will not be unemployed for the long term if our plans for the next year can move him or her into one of the new jobs being created. I am mindful that CE schemes exist to do a particular job. I am not sure it was traditionally segregated into classifications before 2015. I now think it was unfortunate that we segregated the schemes. People need to be treated with dignity and respect regardless of whether they are travelling at the same speed as others. Everybody going into a CE scheme should come out prepared for full-time employment, even if that employment is classified as sheltered employment. The aim and objective of everybody coming into a CE scheme is to leave it with the skill set, self-confidence, and dignity he or she needs to enter the workforce. I want to ensure that is what we achieve and, more importantly, that we publicly value these schemes.

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