Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I was very encouraged when I first heard about Tús on entering the Department. I was under the impression that many of the places had been taken up and was surprised to find that while there had been four or five announcements on the launch of the initiative, other than the pilot scheme involving 119 people in two local development company areas, Tús had not commenced. I have now spent a considerable number of weeks seeking to encourage the widest possible participation from the various local development companies and sporting organisations that have been provided with a complement of places.

I am encouraged by the positivity with which people have been reacting. I also have had discussions with Members of different parties from all sides of this House, many of whom are also involved in local development companies. In a manner similar to the internship scheme that will be announced later today by the Minister for Finance, there is an opportunity for everyone who is involved in a local development company to identify people. In many ways Tús is probably modelled on the original rural social scheme. However, it now applies to both urban and rural areas and as Minister, I certainly intend to ensure that not only rural areas but every town, village and city in Ireland in which there are development companies and partnerships anxious to engage people will be fully involved in the process. As I stated, the response thus far is encouraging.

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