I wish to raise the matter of community employment schemes on the Adjournment. When I submitted this matter, I did not know that Fianna Fáil opposes community scheme cuts, as reported in today's Irish Independent. Up to 30 Deputies and Senators spoke passionately about this and they unanimously demanded that existing CE places be maintained. It is strange that on the same day as this article was published, announcements were made of another six CE schemes being cut in my constituency. These cuts can be added to a considerable number of other schemes that have been cut in the past two years.
At the start of 2002 there were 26 schemes in place in the Dublin 12 area. I will concentrate on what has happened to CE schemes in Dublin 12 because that has been repeated in Dublin 8 and in Dublin 10, which are also in my constituency. This has been repeated in many other disadvantaged communities throughout Dublin and the rest of the country. Of the 26 schemes established in Dublin 12, only 12 remain. How can the remaining schemes provide the services that were provided by 26 schemes? There is not a hope in hell of them doing that. There has been a 31% cut in CE schemes this year. With no recruitment being allowed, by the end of the year some of the existing schemes will no longer be viable. There has been a cut of 50% in the number of participants on CE schemes in the area.
It is not only CE participants who have been affected by these cuts, six supervisors in the Dublin 12 area have also lost their jobs. It was agreed that they would be entitled to four weeks pay in statutory redundancy, but that has changed. The new statutory redundancy package is eating into the four weeks payment they were promised.
We probably all received a letter form the Irish Wheelchair Association and from the Disability Federation of Ireland about the effects of these cutbacks. The Government has decimated the schemes, many of which in recent years allowed people with disabilities to move around and to have access to the services they need. In the case of Irish Wheelchair Association, 417 CE places had been reduced to 194 by December last.
I do not know how Fianna Fáil Deputies and Senators can accept the excuse from Minister of State, Deputy Fahey, that the cuts in CE schemes have been minimal. The figures I outlined are in an area where some of the schemes are protected because they are drugs task force related. I do not understand how a 50% cut in respect of these schemes in two years can be described as minimal. The Government is not seriously addressing the effects of the cutbacks.
Some people talk about the need to secure value for money. People involved in running a social economy scheme spent €600,000 of taxpayers' money, which will be lost because the Government will not give grant approval for the employment of a manager. That money was spent refurbishing a house, but it will be lost because the Government is not willing to budge. The Government accepts that the social economy project is valuable, viable and should continue, but because of its restrictions, it will not give approval for the employment of a manager and as result the Exchequer will suffer a loss of €600,000. That is crazy.
Despite the partnership process, it is crazy that the Government continues to cut community employment schemes. They play a vital role in providing services to those who are less well-off, the elderly, those with disabilities and those who are impoverished because of years of Government cutbacks and lack of investment. I urge the Government to reverse the cutbacks it has announced in the CE schemes and instead to invest money in them to make them viable.
