John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)

Community employment schemes are a valuable entity and should be maintained. The Minister, coming from rural Kilkenny, will recognise the schemes' value. I expect he will announce this evening the reversal of last week's budget decision on the schemes.

On Thursday, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine will attend the annual EU Council meeting on fisheries in Brussels. Knowing about it from my experience in the Department, the Minister will argue for three days with his European counterparts about the importance of the fishing industry to coastal communities in Ireland. The European Commission has suggested quota reductions of up to 40% across the Irish total allowable catch. If this happens, it will have serious consequences for our coastal communities which depend on the industry such as Rosslare and Kilmore Quay. It is important we support the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Coveney, in his endeavours to ensure the Irish fisheries are protected while these outlandish quota cuts are rejected.

Instead, we must ensure viable fisheries and that the industry will continue to progress and prosper. It employs up to 11,000 people with the potential to employ many more. Several weeks ago, all parties gave the Minister full support to take the gloves off to battle on behalf of the Irish fishing industry at the forthcoming Council meeting.

The local improvement scheme was developed to provide grants from local authorities towards the construction or improvement of non-public untarred roads.

The Minister was a local authority member and he will be aware of the importance of the local improvements scheme. Where farmers and others living on an unserviced road came up with money, they received a grant under the scheme from the county council to carry out works. It is important that this scheme be restored because if farmers and others living on unserviced roads are prepared to put up money, it is only right that the Government and the local authorities would provide matching funding. If not, there is not a hope in hell of people bringing roads up to the standard required nowadays.

I ask the Minister to seriously examine the reintroduction of the scheme. Perhaps he could do a deal with local authorities whereby the people living on the unserviced roads, the Minister and the relevant local authority would put up X amount each and it would be a three-way process. It is unfair on families in rural Ireland to withdraw the scheme. At the end of the day, the Government has a majority and it will make decisions but, on the basis of what I have heard over the past week, people in rural Ireland are dissatisfied with the actions and antics of the Government parties. I have no doubt they are only waiting for an opportunity to boot them out of office.

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