Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

They would want to look at how they are governing in the North because everything they have done in the North has been about suppressing people and keeping a lowest common denominator that feeds a voting base. That is wrong; it is immoral.

Springboard has been a revelation and it is a fantastic pathway back into employment, but there are still too many people locked out of it, including people on invalidity pensions. Several people have come to my office whose circumstances have changed somewhat and they now want to take on these courses and see if there is a pathway for them to re-emerge and to return to the work environment, but so far they are meeting obstacle after obstacle.

The community welfare officer system, referenced by Deputy Joan Collins, was a fantastic model of in-the-community supports for people. I live in south-east Clare, where at the Westbury health centre every Thursday afternoon there was a queue of people who would wait to meet the community welfare officer. It was the perfect one-stop shop for all sorts of supports. Since that was has been withdrawn, many of them come to our offices but many do not come to our offices. There are people who could avail of more of the supports provided for in this budget but they do not quite know where to go for them.

This Bill is really good, although it has been criticised. Deputy Gould can scoff as much as he wants because that is what he has done every week. Every week since he has been elected, he has sat there scoffing at measures that are making a real difference in Ireland. He should look at his counterparts in the North.

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