Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. We have carried out a number of reviews of the community employment schemes. We have changed some of the criteria, in consultation with them, to expand it and to allow them to keep workers on for longer. There have been a number of good and very positive changes in that regard.

It is almost a year since the first Ukrainian refugees came to this country. We are opening up the community employment scheme to them now. We look forward to working with them and getting them on board. This is very valuable because we can help them with job activation measures and maybe with language classes. It is a great opportunity to help them to integrate into communities. I thank the Deputy for raising the matter. I am happy to work with him to progress it further.

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