Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the fact that the Minister is to revert to me on the referral fee. If that fee is paid every time the same person is referred, which can be up to three times, and if there are more than 1,000 people in this category, as in this case, it means €10 million alone is given to the companies. If that is the case, as I believe, it does not represent value for money.

I welcome what the Minister said about the local employment service. It is excellent and community based, and it includes the wrap-around supports, which are really important right now when people are suffering in other ways, particularly regarding mental health. Again, I ask the Minister to consider the average payment because there are four sustainment fees that increase every 13 weeks.

With regard to community employment, CE, and additional places in that regard, CE schemes cannot find participants to fill their places because everyone is being pushed into JobPath. The Minister should really investigate the impact of JobPath on other schemes.

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