Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghlacadh leis an Aire Stáit as ucht teacht isteach agus éisteacht liom tráthnóna.
As the Minister of State is aware, community employment schemes are one of the most flexible ways in which unemployed people have been given a chance to do gainful work. In rural areas in particular, much useful work has been carried out under these schemes. Of course useful work was also undertaken in urban areas but people living in rural areas have a particular affinity with these schemes. That might be because in rural areas the work tends to be carried out in the heart of the community and its benefits are immediately obvious to the workers and the general public.
Over the past number of years, particularly during the time when Deputy O'Rourke was Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise and Employment, there had been a relaxing of the regulations in relation to these schemes and their development. For example, the age limit was reduced from 25 to 21 years and the idea of roll over schemes of two and three years was introduced. That resulted in a continuity of work for many types of workers which ensured that these schemes were more effective in the long term.
In view of the persistent unemployment problem and the stated objective of many Government Ministers to give people gainful work, it was a major surprise when regulations were enforced recently — they always existed but were never enforced — which meant that only 25 per cent of workers on a community employment scheme could be re-employed on any extension of that or any other scheme commencing in the following six months.
In the past number of weeks I have been inundated with calls from various organisers of community employment schemes in my constituency who have come up against this problem for the first time. I accept that priority should be given to new people anxious to participate in community employment schemes but the Minister is operating a scheme of cutbacks by stealth.
A number of major problems arise out of the Minister's actions. First, in some of the more depopulated rural areas of the west coast and the islands, it will now be impossible to get the full quota of workers permitted on various community employment schemes because of this rule. A community employment scheme involving 30 workers has just been completed in my area but, because of the Minister's regulation, it is now proving impossible to organise a scheme of even 24 workers. At the same time, almost all the workers on the previous scheme are anxious to continue working on the new scheme when it commences.
Second, participants on community schemes in places such as schools who may have worked as classroom assistants, caretakers, cleaners, secretaries, etc., are being laid off despite the fact that they have skills not replicated in their communities. Classroom assistants working with handicapped children, for example, face a particular problem because they may have built up a bond with those children.
Third, a community employment scheme lasts for one year but because people only work either half a week each week or on a week on week off basis, the number of weeks worked in a year amounts to only 26. As a consequence, workers are only becoming familiar with the work in hand when the scheme comes to an end. Constantly rotating large numbers of workers after a period of only 26 weeks can cause difficulty, particularly in jobs where special skills are required.
Fourth, because of the requirement that priority be given to workers over 45 years of age and that only 25 per cent can be retained on a scheme, a person not yet 45 years of age does not have much chance of getting two years' consecutive work on a community employment scheme. I call on the Minister to relax this regulation, which has never been fully implemented until this year, and to ensure that those people who want to work can do so.
Too often in the past, it was said that people on the dole were not willing to work. Now that we have proved people are willing to work when work is made available, and that they work effectively, the Minister is cutting the ground from under them.
When one takes account of the social effect of giving people the dignity of work and its effects on family life, it can truly be said that community employment is good value for money. Any cutbacks in community employment schemes must be regretted. I call on the Minister to ensure that people who want to participate in community employment schemes and who fulfil the basic unemployment conditions will be facilitated.
Arís ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis an Aire Stáit. Beidh mé ag súil — ó tharla gurb é an tAire Stáit é féin atá ann agus fhios aige faoi mo dhearcadh ar chúrsaí oibre — le freagra dearfach uaidh.
