Mr. Jerh O'Donoghue:

We did a survey of the local secondary school about a week ago. Of the 68 leaving certificate students that were interviewed, 52 said they wanted to live in the rural community in preference to a city or town. Sixteen said they wanted to go to a city or town for different reasons. One of those 16 said he would come back when he was getting old. That was the breakdown.

I thank Deputy Healy-Rae for arranging this for us today, for the work he is doing and the interest he is taking in our organisation locally. We appreciate it. I think it was Deputy Ó Cuív who brought in the Pobal scheme although I am not sure. We credit him with it in our area. I think it is a wonderful scheme and one of the best. Unlike the community employment scheme, people are involved for a long duration. They can be trained and they last. It is far superior. Today four people were taken out of our day centre to train for the new carer's course. They have been taken out of a centre where at least 12 people suffer from advanced Alzheimer's disease. We have to put in people to take their place. It is crazy. If there were a Pobal scheme like it, where they would be with us every day, it would be far superior. It is a good model. Perhaps tweaking is required but it is a fantastic model for rural areas.