Margaret Cox (Fianna Fail)

I note Senator Terry has asked this question. The Minister will know from our connections in Galway that the business in which I have been involved for many years is in the area of recruitment of people for jobs. I am personally aware of a number of people who abused the system and gave up jobs in order to go on the live register for a period of six months and benefit from this scheme in the following September or October.

While I accept Senator Terry's point regarding genuine hardship cases where people are genuinely unemployed and need education — we are agreed that education is the path towards employment and out of poverty — the benefits of this scheme need to be directed at people who are using and not abusing the system. The system was exploited and abused. If the qualifying period is reduced to six months there must be rigorous checking, and people must be aware that there will be rigorous checking, to ensure that anybody who voluntarily gives up a job and signs on the live register in order to benefit from rent and other allowances does not get away with it. It is not fair. As the Minister said yesterday, it takes money away from the system that could be spent on people who need it. My experience has been that this scheme was abused, and not by the poorest people and those most in need but by people who were not in need and wanted the benefit of the type of apartment in the IFSC that the Minister referred to and to go to colleges they wanted to go to. I therefore urge caution on this issue.