Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The local authorities, through Irish Public Bodies Insurance, are not inclined to take on this insurance liability and the sponsoring groups definitely should not be expected to take it on. This is seriously curtailing the benefit that can be delivered by the schemes. It is something of which the Leader groups and those administering the rural social scheme are acutely aware. I remember back in 2007 and 2008 that it boiled down to who prepared traffic management plans. The Leader groups or companies trained somebody to prepare the plans which previously had been signed off on by the council engineer. However, they were told that they could not do so. It nullifies and negates much of the positive work that is being done and that can be done. It may not be the role of Pobal to sort it out, but it has a responsibility, with the local authority groups and Leader companies, to put something in place quickly to prevent the demise of the schemes and their benefit to the areas in question. That is not a criticism but a comment on something that is hitting us hard in rural Ireland.

Last week my group in Belclare in Tuam, County Galway received its paperwork to fill in for next year's rural social scheme programme. I compared it to what had happened in the first year the scheme was run in terms of the documentation required from the sponsoring group. I question the need for some of it. It has applied for so many years to seek to provide a scheme, a work schedule, in engaging with the supervisor and the Leader company. Every year there is an additional request that something else be provided. For instance, this year groups have to provide health and safety plans. The sponsoring and local voluntary groups are being burdened with a huge responsibility. It is turning people against getting involved and signing their names on a piece of paper on behalf of a sponsoring group. Some body, be it Pobal, the Leader company or the Department, needs to play a role in taking it back. They should be sorting out the insurance issue rather than telling us why it cannot be sorted out. Pobal should play a role in that regard.