I do not have that data to hand but I am committed to ensuring that the groups the Deputy mentioned get access to the CE scheme. That is high on our agenda. CE is focused on the long-term unemployed and it is important to keep that in mind. In March next year, another group of people, hopefully not too large, will qualify for CE. We will be looking at the profile of people who most need assistance and targeting it where it belongs.

The IDG report is with the Department and under consideration at the moment. I am not sure if it is going to get published by the end of the year but it is under consideration. I hope we will see it early in the new year.

I thank the Senator for raising this matter. The GAA is an independent, autonomous sporting organisation. The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, has no role in commercial arrangements between the GAA and broadcasters. While the Minister, Deputy Martin, would be in favour of the public having as much access to sport as possible on a free-to-air basis, the autonomy and independence of all our sporting organisations must be recognised. Media rights are the most co…

I do not have copies to circulate at the moment but we will do that. I apologise.

I appreciate the Senator's comments on this matter. I will take the issue around the diaspora in particular to the Minister. It is an area I have worked in and therefore am interested in it. The year 2020 has been very challenging for the sporting bodies, particularly those that rely on mass spectator events for their income. The Government has provided unprecedented support for the GAA and other sporting bodies in recognition of the contribution they make to Irish society in terms of offering opportunities for spo…

As announced under the July jobs stimulus, the Department of Social Protection is developing a range of training and support measures in partnership with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to assist jobseekers whose jobs have been displaced by the Covid pandemic. Training measures include three main points: first, providing access to additional full-time and part-time education, including targeted short-term courses with more than 35,000 new education and training place…

The Government is committed to supporting jobseekers, including those unemployed pre-Covid and those whose employment has been displaced as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, in taking up education and training opportunities and to work with them to take up these options. We need to target supports at those who will most need them. Many of those in receipt of the PUP will return to their previous employment - and indeed many have already done so - as public health restrictions ease and the economy opens to varying …

Community employment is the largest employment and training programme administered by the Department of Social Protection. The programme was initially established under the aegis of FÁS to enhance the employability of long-term unemployed people by providing work experience and training opportunities for them in their communities. Its objective continues to be to provide valuable work experience for long-term unemployed people to help prepare them to gain employment. The community employment programme is delivered …

I have some further information that might be of use. Nationally, there are approximately 19,000 places on community employment schemes, 10% of which are under the service support stream. The scheme is currently under-subscribed nationally. There are 1,081 community employment scheme participants availing of the service support stream. The 10% limit was previously at the local provider level. We have bumped that up to divisional level which should provide more flexibility for local providers to go beyond the 10% li…

I thank the Deputies for an engaging discussion on this important issue. As already said by the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, the fundamental objective of the Government's policy on State pensions is to ensure that pensions remain affordable, sustainable and retain their value into the future. We want to maintain a fair balance in the system. We must protect current as well as future pensioners, while at the same time protecting the most vulnerable pensioners who will remain at the forefront of any reforms in this ar…

I am thankful for the opportunity to speak on this issue. The impact of Covid-19 has been extreme and immediate, especially among the most vulnerable in society.

I am sharing time. My Fine Gael colleague is not here at the moment. Those are the people who the Department supports. Charities, social enterprises, community organisations and the volunteers who assist with these supports are an integral part of the fight against the pandemic. A key priority for me now and into the future will be the continued implementation of the community and voluntary sector strategy, Sustainable, Inclusive and Empowered Communities, which will be key to strengthening the community and volunt…

I thank Deputies for some very useful inputs on these important relevant supports. As outlined by the Minister, I assure this House and the other House that the Government is fully committed to supporting people at this difficult time. At the onset of the pandemic, the previous Government was quick to take action and introduce a range of measures initially intended for a 12-week period to support people and businesses to cushion the sudden and severe income shock that the pandemic brought. All the available data fr…

No. I will take it all, if I can.

I thank Deputy Whitmore for bringing forward this motion and I thank the other Deputies for their thoughtful and well-considered contributions to this debate. Perhaps nothing encapsulates the inequality and unfairness of our society more than the issue of child poverty. Up the road in the Rotunda, some children will be born today and during this week into situations where they will virtually have every opportunity in the world open to them. There will be others who, by chance of birth, will be born into poverty. Th…

The Government's recovery and resilience plan, published on Tuesday, does acknowledge the importance of communities working together at this challenging time. Community centres, as Deputy Paul Donnelly knows, are often the focal point for vital activities that can foster community resilience. The most relevant programme in my Department is the community services programme to community centres. Overall, the community services programme funds approximately 400 community organisations and earlier this year a support f…

I will elaborate on the question of the loss of income suffered by community services programme, CSP, organisations. My Department developed a €1.2 million fund to ensure that such organisations could pay their full-time CSP-supported employees a maximum of €350 per week, with a proportionate amount for part-time CSP-supported employees. Pobal has issued a financial survey to all CSP-supported organisations to identify their remaining financial issues. We are in an organised and forensic way looking to see what the…

Regarding Huntstown specifically, my Department provided €20,000 in January to that community centre. Under the stability fund, €45,000 was approved for the Huntstown family resource centre. I am just putting these figures into the mix. To address the Deputy's question, the Estimates process is ongoing. I am fighting hard for the community service programme across the country. Some organisations are in trouble. Outside of Covid, and while I might hope it was not the case, there is a natural rate of attrition every …

The community and voluntary sector Covid-19 stability fund provided up to €35 million from the Dormant Accounts Fund to organisations in the sector and social enterprises. The fund was intended to provide a targeted, once-off, cash injection for organisations and groups currently delivering critical front-line services to those most in need in our society and in danger of imminent closure due to lost fundraised or traded income as a direct result of restrictions. The criteria of the scheme stated that any grants aw…

To clarify, there was an appeal process as well, which considered real barriers where people simply could not access the information. Some people were not around and available to make the applications. To clarify some of the details, grant levels ranging from €200,000 were approved. They were based on a variety of factors, including the level of loss experienced by the organisation, the level of non-pay costs and the level of public funding received in 2019. Funding can be used to defray non-pay costs such as rent,…