Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leo siúd a ghlac páirt sa díospóireacht. Bíonn sé i gcónaí go maith éisteacht a thabhairt, ní hamháin dóibh siúd a aontaíonn ach chomh maith leo siúd nach n-aontaíonn, in ainneoin an chacamais a bhí á rá ag roinnt acu.

I was disappointed the Government could not find any Labour Party Minister to present the case for this. It found a few backbench Labour Party Deputies who had not a clue what they were talking about, but the Minister, Deputy Joan Burton, could not even attend. The reason she cannot attend is that not only is this scheme wrong, but she has been misleading the Dáil and the public in regard to it. I will deal with this first before I go back into all of the other aspects of the Gateway programme. The Minister, Deputy Burton, has repeatedly claimed in parliamentary debates and in replies to questions that participants will receive a €20 top-up and that, basically, they will be €20 better off. That is the way she and all of the spin doctors have put it across. However, she knows full well, yet fails to mention, that many will be far worse off due to taking part in this, and that it could cost some participants money.

I received a document from the Department of Social Protection which shattered the Minister's €20 claim. I had raised concerns about the Gateway scheme because the supposed €20 top-up could potentially be eroded entirely by PRSI. The Department provided me with a table which specifically outlines each and every payment and which confirmed my fears. That document demonstrates that the more children a person has who is on Gateway, the smaller the top-up, if any. For example, after PRSI, an unemployed couple with one child will get a top-up of €5.50 for 19.5 hours work, a parent of three children will get only €3.11 for their week's work, while a parent of five children sees the entire top-up eroded to be only 75 cent. If the person happens to have more children, it will cost them even more dearly. There is no €20 top-up. I urge the Minister, Deputy Hogan, to explain that to the Minister for Social Protection whenever she appears again.

Once we strip away this supposed top-up benefit, it is hard to see what else is left, if there was anything there in the first place. There is no soft benefit in terms of enhancing participants' employment prospects because, as I and others on this side of the House argued yesterday, this scheme involves no meaningful training and it actively displaces jobs, in particular paid employment opportunities in the local authority sector. The public service recruitment embargo, which the Minister, Deputy Hogan, is still responsible for, along with his Government, means there are no jobs in the context of those who are going to be on Gateway schemes in the host councils. We also see there is no hard benefit in terms of financial recognition through the supposed wages of €20 they are getting.

Last night, I listened to Deputy Jim Daly and we had a bit of banter about it. I thought he was perhaps a one-off. However, I then heard the other idiots coming in here tonight to repeat it, which was scandalous. At least, Deputy O'Mahony had the respect-----

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