Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

Is the Minister satisfied with the speed of implementation of this scheme? I understand it began as a pilot scheme in eight areas and is now being implemented nationally. Does the Minister believe he can meet the target of 2,500 places by the end of the year? Is there anything that might prevent people from joining it? Is there clarity on whether people will retain their secondary benefits, for example, medical cards and so on? A medical card is extremely important to a person on low income in rural Ireland, not merely from the medical point of view but in the context of school transport, clothing allowance and so on. Can the Minister guarantee that a person joining this scheme can still avail of the secondary benefits enjoyed under the other schemes? Would the Minister admit that, nine months on, this scheme has been slow to get off the ground?

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