Ciarán Cannon (Fine Gael)

An issue that was raised, as I recall, last May by Senator Quinn and me, and at the time the Leader concurred with our opinion, was that of our unemployed and the contribution they can potentially make to our communities, towns and villages. As we approach an unemployment figure of 450,000, I am sure many of us know people in our families and neighbourhoods who are unemployed for the first time in their adult lives. One of the biggest challenges they face is preserving their sense of dignity and self-worth. More often that not, they are more than willing to roll up their sleeves and make a contribution to their community in whatever form they can.

At the time this was discussed by Senator Quinn and me, we suggested that perhaps the Government should put in place a national insurance policy to cover such people if they were engaging in such work in our communities. During the summer a number of people in one of my local towns took it upon themselves to begin to tidy up an area near a children's playground that had become very unkempt and were told to stop immediately by staff from the local authority because they were not covered by an insurance policy. On 21 July, the Minister of State at the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Conor Lenihan, announced that one idea he was taking from the ideas campaign was to create a new volunteer corps to engage the unemployed in community and voluntary work in Ireland and internationally without losing their unemployment benefits. Three months later we still have no details of how he intends to do that. It is an area we should look at seriously and should debate in this House.

Not alone are we offering these people a chance to maintain their dignity and self-worth and make a contribution to their communities, we would also be offering them a healthier CV when they go back to the workplace because they could show categorically that they did not sit idly during the six, 12 or, perhaps, 24 months they were unemployed. It is an idea worth exploring and is one this House should be exploring in the very near future.