Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the fact there is an increase in the number to ensure that everybody who is eligible to participate may do so. The six-year participation limit for the rural social scheme also needs to be looked at in the future. Some people are coming to an age, or are at an age, at which they will not get a job in the labour market. I suggest that they should be eligible for another year or so. If that eligibility could be changed, it would ensure that people do not have to go onto jobseeker’s benefits in advance of pension payment, which is very important.

It would also be worthwhile if there was a training element to the rural social scheme. There is very good work going on in my own county, where projects like the restoration of old walls of churches or community halls have been taken on. On its own initiative, the local group has added a training element to the work. It is very important to improve the eligibility criteria regarding the time limit on participation and to have a training element.

In some places in rural Ireland people have to travel a distance to participate in a scheme. At the moment, the top-up added to what a person would receive in social welfare payments is something like €22 or €24. At times, that may be used up in travel. Furthermore, we do not want to have one or two people working on their own in isolation. One of the aims of the rural social scheme was to combat rural isolation. It is good when there are a half a dozen or eight people working together, rather than a person in a parish on his or her own doing the job, which would be self-defeating. I would appreciate if the travel element could be looked at.

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