Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We would be very unwise to change the conditions right now when we are in an atypical situation. I hope we are coming to the end of a period and it is looking good for coming out of Covid. There has been very little movement in the labour market during the pandemic. That is a large part of the reason places are currently empty. There were no places for people to go until recent months. It is temporary and circumstances are about to change.

We are considering a much larger cohort who will potentially be eligible for CE. The Deputy mentioned that there are 2,000 vacancies. I have a figure of 1,705 for June 2021. There is work to be done, however, and we are going to have to fill a large number of vacancies as participants exit over the six months. The activation services have geared up significantly, with over 800 additional staff in recent months.

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