Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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67. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the status of the pay claim by CE supervisors. [61065/22]

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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I value the role CE supervisors and assistant supervisors play on over 800 CE schemes in local communities across the country. They support CE participants to get work experience and develop future work opportunities for those who are long term unemployed, while providing essential services to local communities. As the Deputy is aware, CE supervisors and assistant supervisors are not employees of the Department and are not public servants. They are employees of individual schemes. This means that any discussions on employment related matters are complex.

In the role as funder of CE, Department of Social Welfare officials have ongoing engagement with community employment supervisors and their union representatives to discuss operational issues and other matters of common concern, the latest of these engagements was as recent as last Thursday, December 1.

The Department, as the funder of CE schemes, received correspondence earlier this year from Fórsa and SIPTU seeking a pay increase for CE supervisors and assistant supervisors. The department has since been advised that Fórsa and SIPTU have referred a pay claim to the conciliation service of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). The WRC has issued an invite to the Department to take part in a conciliation process.

Any increase in pay rates that would potentially increase the overall cost to the state of funding schemes, or state funded activities in the wider community and voluntary sector, must take into consideration the potential cost to the exchequer. Given these budgetary implications, and the referral of other similar claims to the WRC, the Department has followed-up with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and is considering their views, prior to responding to the invite from the WRC.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputies.