Frank Fahey (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I compliment the Minister on the introduction of this Bill. He set out to be a reforming Minister and succeeded. This Bill is an example of a very important and significant reform that should have taken place long ago. It is very welcome that FÁS functions are to be transferred under this Bill. I refer to the transfer of functions under the employment services and community services programmes from the Minister for Education and Skills to the Minister for Social Protection. It is best to integrate the services because it allows for an important step to be taken away from a passive model of income support to a more proactive model focused on getting people back to work. The customer-focused and job-focused design of the scheme represents an important and significant development.

Creating jobs for the unemployed has been very difficult because of the recession in recent years. I recall the job search programmes and other major initiatives that were taken during the last recession in the late 1980s and early 1990s. We will now see similar types of programmes, which are more focused on giving the unemployed an opportunity to obtain work and improve their income supports. Directly linking social welfare payments and the finding of a job is an important and significant step forward.

I welcome the introduction of electronic certification. It is past time that we moved into the modern era and used new technologies. I welcome the use of such technologies because they will ensure that the certification process will be more efficient and will assist in delivering a better service to customers and that the important checks and balances which form part of the manual process will be retained.

The use of mobile telephone certification, which is currently being explored by the Minister and his Department, represents a novel approach. It is now possible to obtain a great deal of information - including that relating to bus schedules, etc. - on one's mobile telephone. In such circumstances, I hope that the results of the review into the use of this type of certification will prove to be positive. I accept that examinations must take place in the context of ensuring authenticity. I am of the opinion that the use of this type of certification would be a good development, particularly in circumstances where people from outside the country might be coming here from time to time to claim jobseeker's allowance. The latter type of behaviour must be brought to an end.

The changes to the rent supplement scheme are also welcome. In the future, landlords will be required to make available their tax reference numbers and tax clearance certificates on an ongoing basis. That is a significant development.

I wish to comment on two programmes with which the Bill does not deal directly but which are dealt with in the national recovery plan that was published earlier today. I refer to the community work placement programme - to which the Minister has referred on a number of occasions - and the skills development and internship programme, which it is intended to introduce. The former is an excellent initiative. It is somewhat ironic that when I served as Minister of State with responsibility for labour affairs, I tried to introduce a similar initiative whereby people in receipt of social welfare who wanted to work would be permitted to do so. I recall that I was ridiculed by the Labour Party when I proposed this initiative.

I am firmly of the view that those who are in receipt of social welfare and who want to work should be allowed to do so. I would not force anyone to take up this option and I am of the view that what is envisaged should be facilitated through a voluntary programme. There is so much good work which could be done in communities by people who are on community employment or other schemes. A great deal of good work has been done in the past - in sports clubs, community organisations and local authorities - by those on community employment schemes. However, there is much more work to be done. I have no doubt that when the community work placement programme is introduced, it will prove to be a significant success.

There is also much work to be done in the areas of caring and social services and a great deal of potential exists in this regard. At present, public health nurses are run off their feet trying to care for old people. They are doing a wonderful job in keeping many of the elderly out of nursing homes. People should consider the significant support and care that could be provided by those on community employment schemes while working alongside local public health nurses, GPs, etc. I urge the Minister to implement this programme as soon as possible. I accept that it does not relate directly to the legislation before the House but I welcome the fact that it is included in the national recovery plan. There is no doubt that the worst situation in which one can find oneself is to be at home all day with nothing to do, to be anxious to become involved in doing some work and to not have an outlet in this regard. The community work placement programme is undoubtedly the mechanism by means of which we can assist people who are in receipt of social welfare payments to return to the workforce.

I suggest that the Minister be bold enough to take this programme a step further by seeking to discover if labour-intensive private sector businesses which are under pressure and which are not able to pay their bills as a result of the recession might be allowed some leeway in respect of taking people into employment for a limited period each week. This would bring individuals back into the workforce and provide them with an opportunity to prove themselves. If a person spends one day each week working for a particular company and gets the opportunity to prove his or her worth, when that company's situation improves those who run it will be familiar with the individual in question and might give him or her an opportunity to work perhaps three or five days per week.

The types of initiatives to which I refer are required in order to try to restart the process of employment creation. There is no better man than the Minister, Deputy Ó Cuív, to run programmes of this nature. In light of the climate that obtains at present, I am sure he will receive widespread support from Members on all sides of the House in this regard.

There is no question that difficulties have arisen with regard to people who are currently working for three days per week and who simply do not want to return to working five days each week. Many employers will inform one that people do not want to return to working a five-day week because it is more advantageous to work three days per week. This type of behaviour must be curtailed. It should never be the position that it is more attractive to be in receipt of social welfare rather than in employment. Some of the measures contained in the national recovery plan will address this issue and the reduction in the minimum wage will be of assistance.

Good employees should not be limited to receiving the minimum wage. While it was necessary to reduce the rate of the minimum wage in order to correspondingly reduce the cost of production, etc., I hope employers will continue to pay good employees what they deserve and will encourage them to work harder in order to earn that bit more. The reduction in the minimum wage should not prove to be a disincentive. We are all aware that businesses in the hospitality sector, the retail sector and some of the labour-intensive sectors are finding it extremely difficult to retain employees as a result of the current level of the minimum wage. I hope that the relevant provision in the national recovery plan will prove to be of assistance in this regard.

I endorse the Bill and I give it my full support. The sooner it is enacted and the sooner the Minister can put in place the other initiatives contained in the national recovery plan, the better it will be.

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