There was a Labour Court recommendation in 2008 on a pension scheme for community employment, CE, scheme supervisors. I think the Tánaiste is well aware of it. A process was established in 2015 following discussions with SIPTU and Fórsa to bring the issue to a satisfactory conclusion. As Minister, I was party to that, and with the assistance of Deputy Brendan Howlin, we allowed for an ex gratia payment to be made through Pobal to deal with the issue in some way, but the process stopped when we left government. Will the Government now agree to kick-start a short time-limited process with the unions to address this recommendation which must be honoured? In fairness, we are talking about a small amount of money for people who do significant work that we all respect and admire.

We all appreciate the good work that CE workers do, but I am not in a position to confirm any time-limited commitment on a finalised decision on this matter.