Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for coming to this meeting. I would like to be fair to the Department of Social Protection by giving it credit as one of the Departments to have achieved the greatest transformation over the period of this Government. Unfortunately, the Minister does not need me to tell her that neither her nor her Department gets sufficient credit in the national media. I think the Department has made incredible steps. If one looks at the Pathways to Work document, one will see a huge list of significant, tangible and real achievements that have been made and steps that are being taken. I was talking to a young man of about 21 years of age the other day. I told him that as he is not on any payment, he would be entitled to jobseeker's allowance. When I advised him to make such an application, he said "do not talk to me, it would not be worth my while, I could not be doing with it at all". I asked him why not and reminded him that he was entitled to it. I suggested to him that he might as well get on the allowance so that we could get him on a scheme, but he said "no, they would wreck your head". He said that some of his friends who are on unemployment benefit are having their heads wrecked with schemes and activation measures. I said that what he saw as a challenge was really an opportunity to get off the live register. The figures speak for themselves. The steps introduced by the Government under the Pathways to Work scheme have shifted over 61,000 people from the long-term live register. I congratulate the Minister on that figure, which speaks for itself.

I want to ask the Minister about some of the schemes that have been mentioned, including the community employment scheme, Tús and Gateway. The biggest issue regarding these schemes that I have to deal with as a politician on the ground relates to people wanting to extend their stays on these schemes. There is not a week that goes by without my sending a letter to the Minister or someone else looking for people's schemes to be extended. Of course it is not possible to extend them and I understand why that is the case. I think there is an overarching issue here. The Gateway scheme, which was very much derided when it was introduced by those who suggested it was akin to slave labour, is hugely popular.