Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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388. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will examine the pay and terms of the community employment supervisors (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [61665/22]

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 Thursday, 1 December.

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. Fórsa and SIPTU have referred this 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 could potentially increase the overall cost to the State of funding schemes must take into consideration the potential cost to the Exchequer. The Department has been in ongoing contact with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on this issue, given the potential cost and the knock-on effect it would have on the increased grant funding required to run schemes.

Minister Humphreys and I fully agree that there needs to be a process in place to deal with this pay claim. However, the Department can only participate in a process on the strict understanding that this is in its role as funder of schemes.

I have been pressing for progress on this issue and am looking forward to positive engagement from all parties, including the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.