Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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49. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the status of future community employment schemes. [8085/19]

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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This question has been aired already by my colleague, Deputy O'Dea, but it gives the Minister another opportunity to set out her plans. The question is slightly wrongly worded but she knows its meaning. Perhaps she will set out her plans for the CE scheme so we can address some of our concerns.

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I will not give the reply I have given already as it is on the record of the House. I do not believe the governing rules for the two separate strands of CE are viable. They are not fair to the people who are in the socially inclusive places. I could not get them changed as matters stand, and I had to employ the assistance of my colleagues in different Departments, who perhaps have more clout than I do. I expect that we will reach a satisfactory conclusion between now and the end of May. All the Departments that are involved in any way with CE schemes and all the CE host companies have been invited to make submissions to me on how they believe things should be done in the future. However, I have not yet asked for the Deputies' opinions. If there are Deputies who have a grá for supporting the socially inclusive places and activation training places in their communities, I would be grateful if they would make submissions with suggestions on what we could do to support those people and make them even better than they are today.

I should make Members aware that we will not be talking about this for months. The meetings will take place over the next couple of weeks and I expect to go to the Cabinet before the end of May with our recommendations.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for her reply. Like me, she knows many of the CE supervisors, staff and workers on the schemes in our constituency. Deputy O'Dea met some from Dunboyne and Athboy last week and I am grateful to him for doing that. They have a good vision of what is required and I am sure they will be delighted to give submissions to the Minister. They also have a good vision of what their communities require. The CE schemes certainly do fantastic work. Unquestionably, there are people among the public for whom the CE scheme is an answer, beyond the cohort who require it for job activation. The big concern Fianna Fáil has, and Deputy O'Dea has expressed it, is that it may go outside the Department. We cannot get to the bottom of why that may be required. The Department set up the review for the reason the Minister outlined and we welcome the review in that context, but I see no necessity to move it outside the Department. The Minister's Department is the traditional caring Department. It has a huge budget and looks after people. That is what this scheme does as well. It looks after people and their communities and I will strongly urge that it should remain in the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection.

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I would value it if the Deputy made that submission to the interdepartmental group to allow it to do that. There are three or four items on the list. I am not sure the Department is the natural home of the RSS. It did not start in our Department but was brought from the Department with responsibility for rural affairs when a particular Minister came to this Department because that Minister had started it. It might be more suitable for the Department of Rural and Community Development. That might or might not emerge from the interdepartmental review. In addition, some of our drugs rehabilitative schemes might be better managed by the people in the HSE, although they might not agree with me. However, we will have a proper conversation about the childcare, elder care, drug rehabilitation, training and social inclusion and sheltered employment strands and where they naturally should be. I will be happy to keep them. Indeed, one of the nicest parts of this job is travelling around the country and meeting incredibly decent and hard-working people who find a real grá in providing activation - the assistant supervisors, supervisors and the people who are working and providing the services in our communities.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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In addition, we do not wish to see any element of the private sector coming into this area. The Minister strongly defended Seetec in the House today but it is an organisation that is absolutely hated across the board. People cannot understand why a private company is brought in to do a job that was traditionally seen as the role of the State in trying to help people. We do not want to see that happen with the CE schemes. It has to be said that Seetec draws the ire of people across the board, even people who have nothing to do with it. When people hear about the system they just do not like it. They do not like the private sector being involved in those matters. I want CE schemes to remain on the ground. The supervisors and the people involved in them know what is required and they look after people.

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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First, the reason we needed to employ private contractors is that there were more than 450,000 people unemployed in 2008, in case the Deputy has forgotten. Seetec, Turas Nua and JobPath have nothing to do with CE and will not have anything to do with it in the future.