Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will do that. I will contact with the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, today or tomorrow to raise this. I agree that if the Department writes a set of guidelines it should follow them. I will definitely look into that and see what the situation is. I very much agree with the Deputy that community employment schemes, rural and urban alike, do really valuable work that needs to be done, whether it is Tidy Towns, meals-on-wheels, community centres or sports clubs. It also provides valuable work experience for people to help them get on a pathway to work, education or training. At the same time, it is important that we have churn and turnover, and that we do not have people staying on CE schemes for years and years or even for life because we need those opportunities to be made available to others and we need people to move on, using their experience of the CE scheme, to mainstream employment or other training and education opportunities. We do appreciate that for some, and there maybe people who have difficulty holding down a job in the regular job market, that this can be a valuable alternative too. That is understood.

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