Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Stanton. From my point of view I see the benefit of community employment as threefold. It supports many very important community services. As I have said, and as the OECD has said, it helps bridge the gap between the labour market and people who have found it difficult to break into it. It also has a very important social inclusion aspect for many individuals who access it. It helps them to feel part of the community and part of something important. We have come across many extraordinary examples of how community employment has helped people through very difficult times in their lives. It is not just about jobs. It is about recovering a sense of place and belonging and a direction in life. We are at full employment and there are a lot of vacancies. There are groups of people who still find it difficult to access the labour market and there are jobs. This has been laid bare quite a bit. We are trying to see how we can enhance some of the community employment supports to attract them into the labour market and make community employment successful for them also.

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