Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. McKeon for his contribution this morning. I join my colleagues in thanking all the staff in the Department and in its offices for the support they have provided in the last nine months, during what has been a very difficult time for everyone. The Department responded quickly and delivered very fast, and that must be acknowledged.

I want to deal with several issues. This is not a policy area, from the point of view of Mr. McKeon, but there is one aspect of review that we must look at. One big problem I am coming across concerns people in their late 50s who have lost their jobs and are unlikely to return to employment. To qualify for a community employment scheme, people must be unemployed for 12 months. The people to whom I refer would have got a payment for the last six months and they are now going onto unemployment payments. Can we look at the rules regarding taking on people under community employment schemes?

While I know of many people looking for employment, I also know many people who will not qualify for the community employment scheme because they have not been unemployed for 12 months. On the other hand, I know of six facilities in my constituency that cannot fill the existing community employment jobs. These are people who look after the maintenance, opening up and supervision of facilities. Could we review that scheme? We have these facilities. When we open up from the level 5 restrictions, people will want to use these community and sporting facilities immediately, but there will be no one there to open them because many people have completed their time on the community employment schemes. I know a man who was on a community employment scheme for five years. Even though he is 59 years old, his time on the scheme will not be extended. He was there because we got it extended on a number of previous occasions. Is it possible to look at that issue?

The second matter I raise concerns cases of overpayment by the Department. The Department is entitled to try to recoup that money, whether from the estates of those deceased or from people still alive. We do not, however, have a mechanism for dealing with a situation where people did not get their full entitlement. An example is a lady who contacted me recently. She is 81 years old. She never applied for the old age pension until recently, however, because she was getting a carer's allowance for looking after her brother, and her father before that. She worked for 25 years, but did not claim the old age pension when she reached the qualifying criteria. There is no mechanism which allows such an entitlement to be backdated.

It is the same with other cases. I was contacted by someone who received compensation in the context of hepatitis C because he or she had a medical problem, got blood transfusions for that problem and contracted hepatitis C. That person was compensated, but has now been told that he or she is not entitled to receive social welfare, whereas I think that he or she is entitled to do so. That person has a disability allowance and is not able to go back to work. He or she no longer has hepatitis C, but is physically affected by disability. It is a genuine situation, where the person cannot return to work.

I would also like Mr. McKeon to clarify the situation regarding people who are homeless. It is a really sad situation. I walk a straight line from where I stay here in Dublin to the corner of Kildare Street at the Shelbourne Hotel.

Every morning when I walk past there, at least four to five people are sleeping on the street. One morning recently, I came across 13 people sleeping on the street. How can people who are homeless and have no permanent base be given support? How is that structured?