Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)

I am pleased the Minister is present to listen to our comments. I congratulate her on having her colleague elected in her constituency.

I was a member of the Joint Committee on Social and Family Affairs in the last Dáil with Deputy Burton, now Minister. She had many trenchant views on many issues. I had many a good tiff with the then Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Eamon Ó Cuív. The current Minister understands the position and is carrying out reviews on which I support her. As previous speakers have said there are many anomalies in the system.

The social welfare system has failed us. We are in a crisis with huge unemployment. Some 99.9% of the unemployed do not wish to be unemployed. They want to play a meaningful role in providing for their families and paying their taxes.

The former self-employed have been badly treated. They had the energy, enthusiasm and vigour to set up business and employ others. Now that their businesses have failed because of the downturn, they are entitled to nothing. They are deemed ineligible for back to work initiatives and so on, on the basis of their spouses' income or some other silly reason. It amounts to discrimination. These are people with vision, passion and enthusiasm - like many others on social welfare - who could provide us with a way out of this morass. If they receive sufficient support they will each be in a position to employ one, two or more persons and thus make a major dent in the unemployment rate. They must be allowed to avail of back to education initiatives in order to acquire the new skills necessary to create jobs and stimulate the economy.

Social welfare fraud must be tackled. Deputy Catherine Murphy pointed out that we are paying people to be idle while also paying others to police them and ensure they are out of work. We must change the focus entirely and ensure we have a pro-work system. Those who want to work should be encouraged to do so. I take this opportunity to compliment the community welfare officers who came to the fore during the recent flooding in Dublin, as in other crises. They do incredible work every day and are at the coalface of the current recession.

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