Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on social enterprises. I welcome the Minister of State's opening statement. It is important that we support social enterprises. I will highlight some of the great work in my constituency to emphasise the valuable work happening across Mayo. One example is the Kilmovee community housing centre. It is a small community but the social enterprise there is doing tremendous work. It is an approved housing body, runs social homes in the community, provides meals on wheels, runs after-school clubs and promotes heritage activities. It also supports young people with a homework club. It runs a Thursday club where it offers hot meals and bingo to senior citizens. In an age when we are trying to combat social isolation, this type of work in our communities is important. It has also done great work on the AstroTurf in the community. The loop walk is a huge asset. There are plans for ten more houses in the area as well as a group home. I commend the great work of the manager, Trisha Duffy, and Tommy Horan, the chairperson of the board, who has done tremendous community work. During the storm, Tommy Horan, a number of other people and I delivered hot meals to people in the community without power. Without these types of social enterprises, the local knowledge of elderly people, senior citizens and vulnerable people would be lost. These organisations are under constant and significant financial pressures. I welcome the Minister of State's opening statement and his commitment to this sector. I will work with him to ensure this happens and is felt on the ground. I also commend the work of Sheila Hunt, the former manager in Kilmovee, who laid the foundations for the great work that has happened.

Closer to my own area is Brickens Meals on Wheels, another social enterprise. It is a fantastic organisation run by the wonderful Lorraine Lowry. Brickens is the epicentre of hundreds of meals on wheels that go out to elderly and vulnerable people across my part of Mayo. It does tremendous work. During the storm, the organisation was at the front in assisting people in the worst number of weeks at that time. Eugene Waldron, a local engineer, was and remains a driving force behind Brickens Meals on Wheels.

Clár IRD runs social homes and assists elderly people, senior citizens and vulnerable people in the Claremorris area. Indeed, it administers and assists with the warmer homes scheme as well, which is a very important aspect of its work. Clár IRD should be commended on the great work it does.

I draw the Minister of State's attention to the great work taking place in Mayo Abbey, a small community that is producing some wonderful activities. The training centre in Mayo Abbey is a force for young people and all types of people in terms of the activation of the labour market. It is doing wonderful work with its organic centre, social homes and so on. Another wonderful organisation is Castlebar Social Services, which is doing tremendous work delivering hundreds of meals across the Castlebar area. I met people from the organisation recently in Buswells Hotel. They talked about the financial pressures they face. Balla Community Centre is the hub of its community. It is a wonderful area and community. Balla Community Resources Development is doing tremendous work in Balla as well.

There are many other such organisations right across Mayo. One of the major issues they consistently raise is to do with the community employment scheme, the rural social scheme and the Tús scheme. The Minister of State is from a rural constituency and will be very familiar with those schemes. The issue consistently raised is that it is particularly difficult to get individuals onto the schemes. We are in an economy of full employment, which must be mentioned as a factor. However, there is a significant issue also in terms of the money. The threshold needs to be increased because it is simply not enough to ensure these schemes are viable. People on the RSS, Tús and CE schemes do tremendous work. They are the people preparing meals on wheels, cleaning our graveyards and cleaning the streets. It is really important work but we are not offering them enough to stay on those schemes. I spoke recently to a man who is on one of the schemes and was doing great work in the local cemetery. However, notwithstanding the additional money for being on the scheme, he was losing money by the time he drove to the different locations where he is required to work. That needs to be addressed. In Ballindine, the Meals on Wheels service had to close recently, one of the reasons being manpower issues. The fundamental factor was that the service could not find individuals to recruit onto the schemes. I believe the Minister of State is sincere in wanting to support these wonderful organisations. The manpower factor is a fundamental part of addressing these issues. These organisations have staff but a huge bulk of their work is done by individuals on the CE scheme, RSS and Tús.

When wage increases happen, when there are improvements to employment and so on, the social enterprises do not receive additional funding from central government. That places significant pressure on them and it needs to be addressed. These organisations are doing tremendous work and they must be protected and supported. We cannot afford to lose the wonderful organisations that are the glue in our communities.

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