Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Where I live in Connemara, a huge number of them travel into Galway from places quite distant, taking Citylink and Bus Éireann buses and so on to hunt for employment and so on. If you do that five days per week and buy lunch out of €38, there are not many places that give a lunch for €6. That does not count the bus fare. The Minister rightly says it is the other Minister's responsibility.

However, regarding the rationale for that payment, sometimes we go from one extreme to another. When we look at the way people are actually operating, they are trying to get out of the centres every day. I do not think that is a bad thing; that is how they learn English, integrate, get jobs, etc. However, if that means they are paying for bus fare and buying their lunch, €38 would not do anything for them. I think we have to be realistic about this.