Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

While the service is used to provide much-needed community facilities, the real problem is that the CE scheme is funded by the Minister's Department to provide a training opportunity for people exiting long-term unemployment with the hope they would progress into the job market. I have supervised some of the people involved in these schemes and there is no doubt they benefit greatly from the opportunity. However, those positive stories mask what I believe to be a system with massive governance funding and structural problems. We are all familiar with the issue of the pension payment for CE supervisors, on which I expect the Government to move quickly. I have met local CE supervisors. They are reasonable people who, after a lifetime of service, ask only that the Government honour the Labour Court recommendation to give them, they are mostly women, something which they richly deserve.

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