ELIMINATING DOUBLE payments to people on Community Employment (CE) schemes could save about €70 million, according to Fine Gael’s enterprise spokesman Leo Varadkar.
“Almost half of people participating on CE schemes are in receipt of double payments and do not have to actively seek work. In some cases people are receiving over €400 for a 20-hour week when someone on the minimum wage would get only €173.
“I don’t think it would be fair to cut the payments of anyone who is already on a CE scheme. However, if the system was changed to give new entrants their basic social welfare plus a training allowance as a top-up instead, this could save about €70 million.
“This money could be used to create more than 20,000 extra training and second chance education places and internships for the unemployed. I think this would be a much better use of scarce resources at a time of high unemployment,” he said.
Mr Varadkar was commenting on information received in response to a parliamentary question on the number of people who participate in the schemes and who are in receipt of other social welfare payments.