FCA recruitment for unemployed people
Treacy asked whether recruitment and opportunities in the FCA could be expanded for unemployed people wishing to contribute voluntarily. Cooney said the FCA was already voluntary, most units could take applicants, and expansion would have financial implications.
I concur with the spirit of the Minister's reply. In view of the large number of people unemployed, has he any proposals to extend recruitment and opportunity in the FCA?
Comment on this
The FCA are a voluntary force. Extending recruitment in the FCA would not deal at all with the unemployment position.
Comment on this
The Minister is missing the point. Very many good people who are unemployed would like to be in a position to give some contribution to the State, and not a mandatory contribution. Can the Minister create a further opportunity for them to do that by extending recruitment within the FCA and making more funds and opportunities available in the FCA?
Comment on this
I cannot say off the top of my head what the position is regarding vacancies in the FCA. I answered the question on those lines for the Deputy in the last session here and as far as I can recall the information I had at that time was that, while there were waiting lists for some units, most units were in a position to take whoever applied to them.
Obviously, they would like to be able to take everybody in all units but, as the Deputy has admitted in his question, there are financial implications which in the heel of the hunt have to be met by the taxpayer.