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

I join in the thanks offered to the staff for their fantastic interaction with the public. The responses we on behalf of the public get as public representatives are prompt and thorough and give one information. So often nowadays, one gets official replies that say the matter is being considered and there are no timescales. There is good interaction with the Minister's Department, which is appreciated.

I looked at the Estimate regarding Tús and the community employment, CE. The Estimate for this year is up but the experience on the ground is down. I have figures for Connemara. Between 1 January 2017 and 1 January 2021, the number on Tús declined by 28% while the number on the CE scheme declined by 9%. I would love if I could say that unemployment in Connemara had decreased at the time but this was in the middle of the pandemic when more people than ever were on the PUP and standard unemployment payments. A lot of this is attributable to two things. The first is people not being referred to these schemes because a hold back by the JobPath programme where people who are very unlikely to get employment are not able to access these schemes because they must go through a whole process with JobPath first. The second issue is that there are unnecessary limits to how long someone can spend on these schemes. I have never seen the rationale for pulling people off schemes and putting them back on to means-tested social welfare payments. It is demoralising when people do not have the opportunity to get up in the morning, go into work, socialise and make a contribution. It is an urban upper middle-class myth that people who get good employment in the commercial economy will be happy on a CE or Tús scheme. The idea that if we allow them to stay on longer, it might disincentivise them from being activated is an urban myth. It is not my experience of real people on the ground. Will the Minister look at the length of time people can stay on these schemes, particularly on Tús because CE is more expensive and involves training? It concerns whether after a number of years when a person has done all the training, that will make any difference in terms of activation. What the person needs is a job or somewhere to work and make a contribution to the community. This issue needs to be tackled. Unless Connemara is unique, I would be very surprised if at the end of the year, the Department spends its budget here.

There was a discussion earlier about pensions for CE supervisors. I welcome the progress being made and hope this matter can be brought to a resolution and that the discussions lead to a good outcome. However, the Minister knows that it is a bit disconcerting when people say that rural social scheme and Tús supervisors will be treated in a totally different manner. I expect that what will happen here is that we say that they are similar schemes and should be included in this package. What discussions are taking place based on the reality? Sometimes we deny realities that are inevitable rather than getting on and doing the thing that will have to be done and that is right to do.

At the end of the year, there is a projected figure of 395,000 unemployed. I find that a little surprising. One would have hoped that by autumn, every adult in the country who wants it would have been vaccinated. Obviously a small number will opt not to have one. I am surprised the projected figure for unemployment is that high. I would have thought that in some sectors of hospitality, because people had been deprived of going out, they would be even keener to go out. I understand big indoor events in particular, concerts and so on, would be more difficult, but there will be other sectors of hospitality that would be even stronger than ever, with people taking staycations and so on. I accept aviation would be down, but looking at it sector by sector, I am surprised the projected figure is that high. On what is it based?

The PUP has three rates of payment. One is the exact same as jobseeker's allowance. How many people are on the three rates? It is one thing to say there are 345,000 on PUP but a breakdown would be interesting. How many are on the €203 rate, the medium and the high rates? That would be useful to us when thinking about this issue and in future debates on how we find a way forward from where we are. I welcome the Minister saying there can be absolutely no cliff edge. It would be useful for us to know how many people are at the different cliff faces, the high one and the very low one.

I join those who wish well the two garda who were injured last night. It is horrific that this is happening in the streets of our country. I would love to see guns out of this society in total. Guns and criminality are a huge challenge we face. We must all work to ensure we not only deal with the actual criminals but also with the underlying social issues that, unfortunately, breed antisocial and criminal behaviour. We have a huge job to do in early diversion of young people.