Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I hope the Minister's engagement with schemes like mine and those of other Deputies will continue. He has said he will look at those aged over 55 years by the summer. I hope the new goodwill will still be shown, in whatever capacity the Minister is acting. There is a deeply frustrating inflexibility built into the system and we can only guess at whether it is by accident or design. If it is by accident, we must address the issue. I have said the following to the Minister on a number of times, as have others. I have been chairman of a scheme since 1998 which should have 17 participants. We are now short five and cannot find them, despite having approached the Intreo office and everybody else. They are all being sucked into Turas Nua which is aggressive in recruiting people because it is paid according to the number of participants in a scheme. It is deeply damaging to community employment schemes which are the backbone of many communities, urban and rural, from Tidy Towns to social care, visits to the elderly and community alert schemes. They are great schemes and I have been calling for years for a national audit of their value.

They are being undermined by Turas Nua. It needs to be looked at again because people are being brought in who are not suitable. They would much prefer to be out working in their communities. They are better equipped to do a variety of work in the community rather than sitting in an office in front of a computer. Many of them do not have the literary skillset or the passion for it. They like what they do.

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