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

Earlier this week I received an email from a CE scheme supervisor who has been left with no option but to resign. She was running a scheme with 32 participants, supporting 20 sponsors, covering an area of 85 km and responsible for €500,000 in Government funding through the scheme. She was working without the support of an assistant supervisor because they have not been able to recruit anyone due to poor pay. She is not the only one. I heard what was said with respect to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and I ask that this is treated with a sense of urgency before more good people go. These are critical supports and services in our communities and many of the services would not exist without the schemes. I ask that all schemes be reviewed, including the RSS and Tús, because they are so important to our communities. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform needs to give the go-ahead for engagement to begin. A sense of urgency is needed in this matter.

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