Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Those on the scheme may not participate in what the Department defines as the active labour market, but they are providing a service to their community and they have a purpose in their life. In that context, we need to look at the six-year rule. We need to look at the services being provided. If there is that level of vacancies within CE at the moment, that means that services are not being provided in communities. Also the relationship between JobPath and CEs and the cutting off of referrals to CE schemes needs to looked at. I heard the Minister of State use the phrase “active labour market programme”. CE is much broader than that. It needs to be looked at in a much broader prism than that in the context of the opportunities given to participants and the services they provide to communities.

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