Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Communities in west Cork are already doing work here. The Wild Atlantic Way is being developed as far as Mizen Head or Sheep's Head in terms of hospitality and tourism opportunities. There are so many opportunities community leadership can avail of through a series of issues in those programmes. They may not be of the order of millions but they certainly have the potential to employ people at local level and give them the opportunity to grow small enterprises from communities - not just those like the Deputy's communities but communities across the country. I know this myself from so many areas. There is so much work that can be done under the rural social scheme, for example, where a place might need to be improved and brightened up for elderly people living on their own.

There are many small ways in which the countryside can be improved by virtue of these particular schemes. However, the activities involved must be suitable and appropriate for the people taking part in the schemes. Participants might own their own farm or business, for example, which requires them to be able to work for a few hours. That flexibility is there. Unemployment has fallen from 15.3% to 7.1%. It needs greater imagination and creativity to enable workers to avail of the range of potential that is out there.

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