Mary White (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State for staying here to listen to the debate. It is important for him to listen to the contributions of the Members. Some Ministers do not stay here during our discussions.

Community employment schemes have been effective as a means of helping unemployed people to move into employment in the open labour market. The success rate is obvious, given that 45% of people on such schemes have moved into the labour market. Some community employment schemes have achieved levels of 80% to 100%. Talks about cuts in such a critically important programme are worrying. We must ensure that any cutbacks do not affect those most in need of the support offered by such schemes. Reductions must not be across the board. The schemes which service disadvantaged areas and those unable to participate in the open labour market must not be subject to reductions.

We must remember that the people who have been out of the workforce for years – those with disabilities, young people with mental problems or who live in homes where there are mental problems, ex-offenders, Travellers and drug users who are on detoxification programmes – have benefited most from community employment schemes. We cannot afford to adopt an inflexible approach when responding to the immediate needs of the most vulnerable in our society. There was confusion this evening when Members mentioned people coming from abroad to work here. Some people cannot work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and cannot take up the full-time jobs which are available. The community employment schemes have helped such people. We are not talking about our 4.5% unemployment rate or the fact that we are bringing people in from abroad because we cannot fill jobs.