Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)

I want to be associated with the comments the previous speaker made about our new Minister for Social Protection as I know he is a very compassionate, understanding and decisive man. He is a man of great courage and responsibility. I compliment him on two issues in which he has made a real difference since getting his new portfolio. For a long time the farmers' spouses were in a very precarious position. While I know his predecessor, the Minister, Deputy Hanafin, had done some work on it, he swiftly showed his compassion and understanding, and dealt with that. The second issue is one in which the Leas-Cheann Comhairle may be interested. This evening the Minister informed an all-party group of how he is dealing with the miners who have suffered long since their mines closed and ceased to work. It is a delicate situation for many of them. I pay tribute to him for dealing with this issue so swiftly - under present legislation rather than trying to shape something new. I thank him for that.

Job creation needs to be a priority for us all now and our social welfare system under the Bill will reflect this focus. As a society we need to protect the neediest and try to ensure all our citizens have a reasonable standard of living. At the same time we want to avoid long-term welfare dependency so we need to make choices in how we direct our supports. The provisions of the Bill relating to the one-parent family payment are fair. There are almost 90,000 lone parents in receipt of the one-parent family payment at an estimated cost of €1.1 billion. As a parent of a large family, I recognise how difficult it is for single parents. Even with two parents it can be difficult and challenging. This payment developed at a time when single parents faced severe disadvantages and discrimination. Our society has changed so much in recent decades that this is no longer the case and the changes to the system will remove long-term welfare dependency and bring Ireland into line with other EU countries.

From April 2011, payments for new applicants will only be made until the youngest child in a lone-parent family reaches the age of 13. For existing claimants there will be a tapered six-year phasing out period. The EU countries that are most successful in tackling child poverty are those that combine income support with strategies aimed at facilitating access to employment such as child care. I welcome the special provision for married and cohabiting persons who have recently been bereaved and who have children aged 13 years or older. They will continue to receive the payment for up to two years or until the child is 18 years old to allow them to come to terms with their changed and difficult circumstances.

If a person refuses an offer of suitable employment, he or she will no longer receive jobseeker's allowance. This provision just reinforces the existing arrangements. At the moment one of the conditions to obtain jobseeker's allowance is that a person must be available and actively seeking work. Likewise if someone refuses to participate in an appropriate course or training, or to participate in a programme under the national employment action plan, he or she will have his or her jobseeker's allowance or supplementary welfare allowance reduced. At the moment a person who refuses a training place is disqualified from payment for nine weeks. This new provision instead reduces the rate.

While I support the Bill, I highlight the lack of access to any social welfare supports for previously self-employed people. These people are now being punished for their entrepreneurship, a quality we are trying to promote and stimulate through various policies. The message we are sending out is anti-business, anti-innovation and detrimental to many families who are struggling to make ends meet. I know the Minister is looking at this matter. It is very unfair on people who had a good businesses idea, had the courage and vision, went to the bank manager and may have gone into debt, found work for themselves, paid for themselves and supported their families, may have extended and expanded their businesses, and gave valuable employment. Those are mainly the SME and small business people. We need these people now more than ever. Given that they have paid all their taxes, are C2 compliant and have paid PRSI for their employees, it is very unfair and demoralising for them to be left on the back foot.

I am a board member of Muintir na Tíre. Muintir na Tíre in its role of community development has identified four key areas of concern to communities in the past three months. Through its vision for the future development it proposes to embark on a phased programme of community action over the next two years consisting of the following elements. The first element is a community education programme addressing carbon dioxide emissions. If supported and driven from within the community, it will create awareness resulting in persons, households and communities taking responsibility for reducing their carbon footprint, which in turn will reduce fuel bills and State carbon liabilities. This programme will be delivered by Muintir na Tíre staff and a trained panel of volunteers.

The second element covers an expansion of the SEAI low-income housing warmer homes scheme. This programme will meet the needs of households not being met by the current low-income housing programme. If supported the benefits of the programme will be enormous, the most obvious being the generation of much needed employment predominantly for males from the construction sector, a group with a strong work ethic, skills and experience, many of whom were self-employed and employers and are now unemployed. They are ready willing and able to take up the challenge.

The third strand is the employment programme for jobseekers. All persons in receipt of any form of State benefit - jobseeker's allowance or benefit, farm assist and so on - who have been out of work for a minimum of six months would be allowed to work 19.5 hours a week and retain their social welfare payments. This is vital because as we all know there are countless jobs to be done in transforming communities.

The fourth element is a community experience-qualifications-skills exchange programme. This programme will allow communities to provide a community-based programme utilising the existing community skill base of people who are currently unemployed. It will cover: adult literacy; basic computer skills; homework clubs; European languages; stone work; carpentry; plumbing; painting and decorating; gardening skills "grow your own" allotment management; community development skills; and preparation for second chance education. The scope is wide and the field is large.

The people with the ideas and work ethic are there. It must be possible for Government to allow these people who now find themselves unemployed to do the work and transform our country. They will be engaged in any works of benefit to the local community especially utilising the participants' core skills. Payment of the benefit would be channelled through the local community organisations. These are the people on the ground who are capable and have understanding of the needs of the community and the unemployed.

Muintir na Tíre is a national voluntary organisation dedicated to promoting the process of community development. Canon John M. Hayes founded the organisation in 1937. It aims to enhance the capacities of people in communities - rural and urban - to become involved in local social, economic, cultural and environmental development. It aims to enhance the capacities of people through its core principles of neighbourliness, muintreas, self-help and self-reliance, and its whole-community approach - rural and urban - to become involved in local social, economic, cultural and environmental development and to represent the interests of local communities in different levels of policy making. The late Canon Hayes always felt it was better to light a candle than to curse the dark. We now need to light many candles and need to keep many flames burning.

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