Ollie Crowe (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Ardagh for sharing the time and I welcome the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, to the Chamber. I want to follow on from my colleague, Senator Ardagh, and discuss section 12 of the Bill, which provides for an ex gratiascheme for community employment scheme supervisors and assistant supervisors, as all Members of this House will be familiar with. I appreciate that this represents considerable progress for thousands of people, which is welcome and positive, and I am thankful for that. It has been a long-standing and complex issue across the country that has been stuck in limbo since a Labour Court recommendation in 2008. I have had extensive engagement with CE supervisors in Galway and I acknowledge that in recent years, this Government has progressed the issue far more than had previously been the case. This will have a positive impact on people's lives. However, I cannot let this opportunity pass without highlighting that a small minority of 40 to 50 people, including former supervisors and assistant supervisors, are being left out of this scheme. This is being done on the basis that they received a redundancy payment. The case has been raised with me where the schemes were closed and people were made redundant through no fault of their own. It does not seem fair or just that such people, having been made redundant, would be left out of the scheme now, which implements a 2008 Labour Court recommendation relating to the provision of the pension scheme. I ask the Minister and the Government to review and reconsider this. This scheme serves to acknowledge the hard work of CE supervisors and assistant supervisors. Those who were made redundant worked as hard and were as dedicated as those who were fortunate enough to find themselves in that situation.At this stage, I appeal to the Government and the Department to review this with urgency and possibly make the necessary amendments.