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

I would not accept that characterisation. This is a tender to extend local employment services into parts of the country where they do not currently exist. It is an improvement and expansion of services. It is open to a local employment service in one county to tender for the contract to provide services in another county.

Payment by results is not a bad idea. It has proved its worth in other areas. There is considerable variation from one county to the next in the results that local employment services get. Some are very good and some are not so good. Payment by results makes a great deal of sense because it means that we reward the service providers that get the best results and do not continue funding those that do not.

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