Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. I raise a matter which is not unlike the previous issue as it is to do with community schemes to provide employment for the unemployed and for those who wish to make a contribution to their community. The home care issue is very relevant to this matter. Many people are of the view that community employment schemes should be extended to include home care. I was informed by HSE west that 79,000 hours of home help is available for 2,500 people in County Galway. This sounds impressive but there will be a loss of 12,000 hours per month. Community employment schemes could be extended to that area.

However, there seem to be differing rules and regulations governing three schemes and I will provide some examples. In the past if a community wished to prioritise a particular project such as building a wall, a meeting room or a group water scheme, the community employment schemes provided some assistance. For example, the extension or development of a graveyard would have been regarded as a local project. However, this does not seem to be the case now. Community employment schemes are not always permitted to become involved in such projects. There seems to be no difficulty as to the type of community work carried out under a rural social scheme nor are there time limits on the number of years a participant may be on the scheme. The big drawback is that a herd number is required in order for a person to qualify which means that person must be involved in the agriculture sector. That rules out quite a number of people from the scheme.

When Deputy Ó Cuív was the Minister responsible he introduced the Tús scheme which provides at least one year's work. My understanding is that a person cannot revert to community employment after completing one year on Tús.

I support all the schemes but there is a need for more places. There is also a case for retaining as many people as possible on these schemes because some have specialist skills who make a significant contribution to the schemes.

I ask the Minister of State to clarify the rules and regulations. One regulation states that community employment schemes may not work on graveyard projects. I refer to work to extend a graveyard by building a wall and this is a good example of the type of work that could be carried out. I refer in particular to the extension to Killyon graveyard in Newbridge, County Galway, near where I live. It was not possible to complete the work on that scheme because it was decided it was not a community project. The Department should allow works such as graveyard extension to be completed under a community employment scheme. I know this is what the people of Newbridge and Killyon would like to see happen.

There are many examples of community work that should be permitted. It is very unfair that two neighbours may be working on two different schemes but they are treated differently. They are both trying their best to work for the good of the community.

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