Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. I hope the Taoiseach envisages that the rural plan will be one that will create many jobs. From what I have seen of it, I feel there is a lot of copy and paste in it but our judgement on that will be down the road. The set up of JobPath was poorly thought through, in my own view and the view of many in the community. Schemes like community employment schemes, Tús and the rural social scheme need further support. There should be no more instances where good workers are sent home after 12 months when there is no other employment in their community. There should also be no more instances of a person having to wait on social welfare for 12 months if on welfare. There should be an immediate work start in the community. There should be no more strict guidelines leading to more and more community and voluntary groups finding it impossible to fill positions. It is wrong to require individuals from peninsulas like Mizen Head, Sheep's Head and Beara throughout west Cork and throughout the country to have to travel possibly 25 miles in some cases to meet JobPath requirements. This shows little or no respect for individuals on welfare.

The need to set up a rural and urban works scheme is critical, in my view and in the view of the community and voluntary sector, as is a clear understanding of the needs in those communities like employment and travel. Eligibility for entry to all work schemes needs to be relaxed because if not, the communities in west Cork and throughout the country will be far sadder places in which to live.

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