Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

To briefly touch on Tús, there was quite a bit of leeway given during Covid in terms of referrals and the consequences of not filling places. That is easing now. I refer to the operational forum that we are running in respect of CE and Tús where issues can be fed in. It is something that we have heard previously.

I want to give the RSS a little time. It is an extremely important scheme. Its impact is not just the increased income for participants; there is the contribution that they make to the community as well. Last October, I was in Feenagh, County Leitrim, at an event organised by RSS participants. There were 30 men at it who came from a radius of 20 or 30 miles. It was clear from speaking to them that the value of it for them individually was enormous because it was one of their few social outlets outside of the pub, which was not an option during Covid. From that point of view, I am very aware of the value of the scheme and I am interested in protecting and growing it.

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