Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

That is exactly what is being said in this section in respect of jobseekers benefit and certain courses. It does not make any sense. That type of outdated thinking should have no place in the current jobs scene. There are umpteen people in the country who would give anything to get onto a course or to have an opportunity to improve their skills and prospects of getting a job. The Minister or his predecessor should have moved on this at a time when there was full employment. Now, everybody who is unemployed and every lone parent who loses his or her payment once the youngest child reaches the age of 14 and is forced to go on jobseekers payment is competing with 440,000 other people who are also looking for jobs.

The Minister needs to get rid of this mindset that one cannot do something because people might give up their jobs to do a course. That is where this is coming from. What the Minister should be aiming to do is ensure that as far as possible anybody who is unemployed should be facilitated in doing something worthwhile, whether that is a form of work, a scheme or a training course. People should be facilitated in doing this while keeping a payment. What is the point of it? Why is the Minister stating that payments will be lost if people go on certain courses? It does not make any sense.

I agree with the points made by other speakers and I must state that it is simply unacceptable for the Minister to expect us to deal with a major Bill such as this in one hour and 15 minutes. The Dáil will not have an opportunity to address some of the key provisions of this legislation whereby people on jobseekers payments could have those payments reduced or cut completely if they refuse an offer made by somebody who decides that offer is reasonable. The system is wide open to abuse because of the lack of definition of a "reasonable offer". In respect of people in receipt of one parent family payment it will be the case that once their youngest child reaches the age of 14 the payment will stop and they will instead receive jobseekers allowance. In such circumstances there are not adequate safeguards in the Bill to ensure that people are not made unreasonable offers and expected to do something unreasonable. For example, people may have a 14 year old child who needs to be minded after school.

The Minister is putting the cart before the horse. He is forcing people off the one parent family payment before he brings in any kind of supports for families in such circumstances or anything in the child care area. When we teased this out on Report Stage the Minster said he had hopes that changes and improvements would come in the child care area but there is no money to do anything with that. The Minister's colleagues in Government are slashing child care services at community level across the country. It is nonsense to talk about ensuring that child care will be available. Those aged 14, 15 and 16 need supervision after school. They need to have some kind of care arrangements in place for the three months of their summer holidays. It seems that it is now Government policy that 14 and 15 year olds somehow look after themselves.

The Minister makes no provision for those who have a child who has challenging behaviour or a difficult child who may have, for example, something like ADHD and needs close care and supervision and a parent around to ensure he or she does not get into difficulties. There are no safeguards in place in this Bill to ensure that real life personal family circumstances are taken into consideration. The terminology used is entirely arbitrary. People who are in difficult circumstances could be forced to take on training places or employment opportunities that would make their caring responsibilities to their families virtually impossible to carry out.

I have serious concerns about many aspects of this Bill. It has not been given adequate consideration. The Minister should have been serious about activation at a time when we had full employment. At this stage, with massive numbers seeking employment, it is the wrong time to do it and the Minister will impose huge burdens on people in caring situations. The Minister is storing up many difficulties for the future by going about it in this manner. It is ill thought out and I urge the Minister to hold back on the contentious elements of the Bill, namely, those sections where he will have to set a commencement date, and consult with those who have been working in the field with the unemployed and lone parents on what supports they need to facilitate them in moving from welfare into training and employment. The work has been done by all the groups concerned. The advice and expertise is there and the Minister needs to listen to them.

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