John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I thank Senator Bannon for sharing time and welcome the Minister of State. I agree with Senator White that it is good that he has remained in the Chamber for the duration of the debate on this motion, even though I was somewhat disappointed with his contribution.

I wish to make a confession. I am not a socialist, never have been and never intend to be. I do not believe one has to be a socialist to have respect for what has been achieved by community employment schemes. I was amazed by some of the contributions by Senators on the other side of the House, some of whom, as we were informed in what was a revelation to me, are socialists. They seem to hold the view that social employment schemes should be cut back, but they have no opinion about the impact this will have on the voluntary sector in particular. However, a number of them pointed out projects that will be directly affected if the community employment scheme is cut back.

There are two distinct aspects of the community employment scheme which was initially set up as a means of reintroducing long-term unemployed persons into the workforce. Senators on all sides are involved in different community groups and aware that these groups have become dependent on community employment schemes in order to remain active.

I agree with Senator Norris's comments about volunteering. It is a sad fact that volunteering is becoming less of a phenomenon in modern Ireland. In the past community groups have relied heavily on volunteers. However, the country's economic success means that there are far fewer unemployed persons than there were 15 years ago and, consequently, people have less time to devote to volunteering. They are obliged to get up two hours before work and must then sit in their cars in traffic before finally reaching their place of employment. When they finish work, they must collect their children and sit for a further two hours in traffic before they reach home. By the time they get home, they really do not have the energy to commit to local community groups as they did in the past. That is the nub of the problem when it comes to reductions in the community employment scheme.