Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I too welcome to the Distinguished Visitors Gallery the Japanese ambassador and the mayor of Waterford city and county and his wife.

I welcome the announcements today of the Ministers for Social Protection and Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputies Humphreys and Darragh O'Brien, regarding changes to the community employment, CE, Tús and rural social scheme, RSS, schemes. As we know, these are very important schemes throughout our country that play a very important role within communities by providing amenities and they are a very important part of the fabric of many communities. There are currently 19,000 participants in CE, 5,000 in Tús and just under 3,000 in the rural social scheme and the investment by the Government this year will amount to €500 million. The changes announced include the removal of the six-year limit for all participants in the rural social scheme, the eligibility of Tús being extended to persons in receipt of a disability payment, new flexibility to allow CE schemes to recruit eligible candidates directly to fill 30% of places, Intreo to increase significantly the number of referrals to CE, with schemes required to offer places to at least 60% of candidates referred, a new pilot scheme to extend eligibility to qualified adults to be developed, and a continuation to allow schemes to extend individual placements and retain existing participants in cases where no replacement candidates have been selected.

These schemes play a vital role in local services such as childcare, meals on wheels, the maintenance and upkeep of local amenities and graveyards, the extension of footpaths and the building or rebuilding of walls, so they do a lot of great work throughout the country. The strength of the economy at present and the high level of employment have presented challenges to the schemes in regard to getting participants, and Ministers and the wider Government have listened to the concerns of supervisors regarding the need to provide and enact changes to increase the number of participants. I have received much engagement and correspondence from people in places such as Maam and Clonbur where there are difficulties getting participants, so these changes are welcome.

I also welcome the opening of the ex-gratiapayment for CE supervisors and assistant supervisors, which is a good initiative. They had a long-fought battle, going back to the Labour Court recommendation of 2008, and I welcome the Government's decision to provide a gratuity payment. Nevertheless, RSS and Tús supervisors have queried whether they might be eligible for a similar gratuity in the near future. Of course, they do not yet have a Labour Court recommendation but I hope the Government can engage with them. Perhaps the Deputy Leader could contact the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, in regard to the eligibility of RSS and Tús supervisors for future schemes. Yesterday I raised a similar issue in the context of home help. Travel costs for participants are problematic at the moment, not least given the price of fuels and the increasing burden on participants.