Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)

I agree with the Deputy, to be honest about it. It has shone a light on the precarious nature of the income, which was the initial overriding consideration my predecessor had when this scheme was brought in. Not everybody was enthusiastic about this scheme when it was brought in but, qualitatively and quantitatively, when we have the research concluded, it will demonstrate in a clear way that this is a good scheme.

Ultimately, I would love to be able to broaden it, but it will be resource dependent in the context of the budget. First of all, I will have to get Cabinet approval for its continuation as a scheme. The amount of funding that will be made available to it will obviously be a determining factor in respect of the number of people we will be able to support. We will also have to have consideration, as the Deputy rightly said, for those who would have loved to be part of the initial scheme but who, unfortunately, for one reason or another, were not.

There is a bit to roll on this yet but the most important thing is that the Government, the Department and I, as Minister, are committed to it.

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