Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister of State said, the Labour Court in 2008 made a recommendation which would nullify the Government view on the State not being the direct employer of supervisors or assistant supervisors. The Minister of State knows an incredible amount about the schemes and we have discussed them this morning. Every scheme is dependent on the commitment, dedication, talent and skills of the supervisor and the assistant supervisor. Without those, CE would not be the very successful scheme it has been. As the Minister of State said, the proposals were put forward in April. Today is 1 July. What timeline has the Minister of State in mind for resolving the issue? The proposal, as he said, is a solid basis for progression, but there are a lot of concerns about the detail within it, the fact that it relates only to service since 2008 and the fact that it is taxable. Many of the supervisors and assistant supervisors I have spoken to have said the offer is so small after tax that they would have been as well off not having done anything over the past 20 years of their lives, never mind the commitment they have given to communities.

I ask for urgency on this. It has been going on for far too long. Unfortunately, many who started the campaign have passed on. We owe it to all these supervisors and the assistant supervisors to resolve this issue fairly for once and for all.

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