This week I will be meeting with the community employment, CE, supervisors in Carlow. The remuneration package that is currently on the table needs to take into account that CE supervisors have not had a pay rise in 13 years, which means that their pay does not now reflect their level of responsibility. When the issue is raised here, the answer is that the Department is not their employer. Supervisors were never asked not to be seen as public servants and they never gave up the right to be seen as such. CE supervisors were never included in the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (FEMPI) No. 2 Act 2009 and, although they were due an increase at that same time, they never received it. Therefore, I believe that they have taken a pay cut. Their workload has doubled in 13 years and, given the recent increase in the cost of living, they cannot afford to live on their wages. The budget has done very little to alleviate their plight. Pro rata, they are working for less money than many of the people they are supervising on the scheme. They are providing a vital scheme and they are being shortchanged. What are we doing for them to make sure that they get their proper wages?

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of CE supervisor pay. In my answer I will also include assistant supervisors and supervisors of rural social scheme, RSS, and Tús schemes, who we also need to look at. My Department has been in negotiations with unions this year. Unions have gone to the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, to open a conciliation process. The Department of Social Protection has been invited to that conciliation process. We should engage in that process, and we are ready to go into that and to make an offer. Before we can do that, we need the backing of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. We need its sanction to take the next step. We should do it as soon as possible.