Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Referrals are an issue. I appreciate what was announced just before Christmas was that the Department would look at a significant ramping up of referrals. That is really important. Even if it was relaxed during Covid, it makes no sense to sanction where the participants are just not getting the referrals. They want the referrals. As the Minister of State said, the work done in the communities will not be done otherwise.

There is no doubt about that. The six-year rule has implications. Many schemes are finding that they will lose people next year and the year after. They already cannot fill their places, so I am unsure as to how they will fill them when they lose people. I see no need for the six-year rule. There is no issue of places being blocked for other people, given that the current number of places cannot even be filled. It is not good enough to say that we have to have a six-year rule because we need to ensure schemes are open to other people. There were just 170 referrals for 390 places.

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