To date, 226,851 people have been referred to two private companies, Turas Nua and Seetec, under the JobPath programme. Some 27,476 people have been referred over for a second year. Some 354 people have been referred over for a third year. This means they are doing the same thing for a third year in succession. In response to a recent parliamentary question, the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection informed me that 51,548 of the 226,851 people who have been referred to these companies have commenced employment. Just 6% of those who have been referred - 14,617 people in total - have been sustained in employment for a year or more. I imagine that many of those people found employment independently of Turas Nua and Seetec, only for those companies to claim that they had assisted them in finding employment in order to get sustainment payments. Will the Taoiseach recognise that this project, which has cost the State €182 million to date, has been a complete failure? Will he honour the mandate provided by this Dáil when it supported a Sinn Féin motion in February that sought to stop referrals to Turas Nua and Seetec with immediate effect? Will he ensure the referrals stop and this failed project is binned once and for all?

The Government's employment policies have been an enormous success. We see employment at a record high and unemployment at its lowest in over a decade. This includes youth and long-term unemployment. Part of the suite of policies that has made this possible are programmes such as JobPath, the work of the Intreo offices and local employment services. If somebody cannot get a job, one does not stop trying to help him or her. One keeps trying to help him or her and this may mean a second referral to JobPath, a local employment scheme, Intreo or a community employment scheme. One keeps trying to help that person. The policy is working.