The programme for Government contains various commitments to reduce the employment rate while prioritising balanced regional development. Community employment, CE, schemes are a very important aspect in achieving this and provide a path to employment for many long-term unemployed people particularly in rural areas. This week I have been contacted by several of the 1,250 CE supervisors who have no access to any occupational pension scheme despite a 2008 Labour Court recommendation in their favour. The campaign for action on this recommendation will continue into May 2019 with an escalation in industrial action as the Government continues to ignore its responsibility to facilitate them regarding that Labour Court ruling. I am also informed that groups of CE scheme supervisors have been seeking a meeting with the Minister for some time but their requests have fallen on deaf ears.

Fianna Fáil passed a motion in the Dáil in April last year calling for action on this issue which also has been ignored by the Government. Can either the Minister, Deputy Regina Doherty, or the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, indicate whether they intend to engage with this group in an effort to resolve the matter?

The Government's position on this has been outlined by the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, on numerous occasions. While the Government is and continues to be very supportive of CE schemes, those employed on the CE schemes are not employed by the State even though State funds many of them and consequently there is a contractual difference between somebody working on a CE scheme and somebody employed across the public sector.

What about the Labour Court recommendation?