A report which recommends taking up to 8,000 people off Community Employment schemes is to be published today, after its contents were revealed in yesterday's Irish Times.

The report, presented to Ministers on Tuesday by the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, says lone parents and some people classified as disabled should be removed from the scheme to make savings of up to £58 million.

Some 41,000 unemployed people have places on the scheme.

The report's recommendations were criticised yesterday by opposition parties and community groups, while in the Dail the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, sought to distance the Tanaiste from its proposals.

In reply to Mr Pat Rabbitte, (DL Dublin South West) the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern insisted that the Tanaiste was not responsible for the report.

Mr Ahern said: "The report has been prepared by a team of consultants.

"It was in conjunction with the social partners. The report is to be launched in the next few days for discussion with the social partners. It is not the proposals of the Tanaiste."

In raising the Deloitte & Touche report, Mr Rabbitte said that Ms Harney had "taken off again after single mothers".

He said that Mr Ahern should repudiate the proposal to remove 8,000 people from the schemes.

The proposed exclusion of lone parents was also the focus of criticism from political parties and other groups.

The leader of DL, Mr Proinsias De Rossa TD, said the proposed exclusion of up to 8,000 young people and single parents would be a bitter blow to many communities throughout the State.

He called on the Tanaiste to reject the recommendation and to look instead at ways of seeking to extend training opportunities for all of those who wanted to re-enter the workforce.

"Single parents are predominantly women and it is most regrettable that this vulnerable group should be, once again, targeted for discriminatory attention," Mr De Rossa said.

"It makes absolutely no sense to simply dump up to 8,000 people off the scheme, especially when those removed may end up dependent on social welfare support," he said.

Labour Party senator, Ms Kathleen O'Meara, called on the Tanaiste to release the report immediately.

"In relation to this specific report on community employment, the recommendations which are cited in The Irish Times on the reduction of schemes is causing a lot of distress among community and voluntary groups around the country who rely heavily on CE for their survival," the senator said.

The National Women's Council, in a statement said it was appalled at "this blatant attempt to close off the only labour market scheme available to lone parents. "Similar to most married women, lone parents are not eligible to sign on the live register and therefore participation in CE schemes is their primary route to accessing work experience or training to equip them to enter the workforce," it said.

The Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed warned that the cut would breach the Partnership 2000 commitment to add 10,000 places to CE and the Jobs Initiative.

"Any attempt to cut 8,000 places would be in blatant contempt of Partnership 2000," the INOU general secretary, Mr Mike Allen said.

The Parents Alone Resource Centre said any such cut would also cut off a pathway to lone parents out of isolation and into education and employment.

The One Parent Exchange and Network Group (OPEN) said it was totally appalled at the proposal. It called on the Government to consider seriously the implications of implementing this type of policy.