Dr. Tom Boland:

I was unemployed in the period from 2006 to 2008. I went into those community welfare officers and they were extraordinary and they said, “We will support you and make sure it works out for you.” However, that is no longer the case and we need to return to that great practice. We need to recognise when we have done things well, and in this State we really did things well in respect of social welfare in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. If we are talking about “best in class” or best policy, we should imitate our past rather than across the water.