Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)

I am disappointed at the level of comment from and cheap sniping by some Senators on the other side of the House. I do not include Senator Burke in that observation. However, Senators Buttimer and Ryan referred to FÁS as an expanded Fianna Fáil cumann. Their comments lowered the tone of the House and brought the debate down to the level of nonsense.

I welcome the Bill. There have been major problems in FÁS. However, every Member of the House knows someone who is working on a FÁS scheme, been a FÁS supervisor or had an interaction with FÁS. We all know the impact of these interventions on individuals and our communities. At a time when many spheres of life are receiving bad press, justifiably or not, it is important that we commend the work being done in FÁS.

Senator Buttimer spoke about changing the name of the organisation and starting from scratch. It is too simple to say we should not start from where we are but from somewhere we would like to be. The Bill aims to reform the hierarchy of FÁS, how it is set up and how it functions. However, many aspects of FÁS are working well. I do not accept, therefore, that starting from scratch would add much to this reform.

In my constituency unemployment has always been very high. There is an element of cross-Border working which sometimes masks the real figures. Some may not like me saying this but it is the reality. The Border has presented opportunities, as well as many challenges. I commend the Government for the development of the €27 million consolidated centre which is about to open in Buncrana. It will house a decentralised social welfare office, a Garda station and a car testing centre. Unfortunately, we need the new social welfare office, as the staff of the three or four social welfare offices in Buncrana have been working under very difficult circumstances. They will now be consolidated in one centre. People who lose their jobs and must have that first interaction with State services will do so in a wonderful public service centre which will open on 27 November, a very important day in my life because it is the date on which I was born. While we must do as much as we can for people who lose their jobs, I hope we can maintain as many as possible in jobs. I commend the initiative to give State support to companies which are exporting. I believe the Tánaiste intends to expand the scheme to bring more people into it. However, our first goal should be to keep people in employment. This often means providing training in the workplace, rather than waiting until people are unemployed before they can avail of it.

The Minister for Education and Science recently announced a major investment in information technology. The Government will invest €150 million in the provision of lap-tops in schools. One still hears people condemning investment in IT. If we do not invest in this area, where will today's young people be tomorrow? We must train teachers to use IT equipment because students are often ahead of the teacher in this regard. FÁS may have a role in providing such training within schools. I note that it worked with Mr. Paul Rellis of Microsoft on such a project. Could business interact with schools to ensure the skills being taught in schools are relevant to the workplace? This must be done at primary school level. Early intervention is important; the earlier we intervene the more likely we are to ensure pupils will be employable when they leave school.

I commend the fact live register figures are going down. In Letterkenny, the waiting time for the jobseeker's allowance is approximately two weeks. It is two weeks in Killybegs and seven and a half weeks in Buncrana. I have been told it is approximately 22 weeks in Castlepollard. I recognise the waiting times in Donegal are not the worst but I would like to think we could get money in people's pockets and do whatever we can to shorten the waiting times.

There are new roles which FÁS can play and we should work with business to help identify them. Often there is flexibility in FÁS which is not to be found elsewhere. I know some of that flexibility might have been abused and perhaps that is part of the problem. However, if we get rid of that flexibility, we could get into trouble.

When I became a Member of the other House, the first thing people asked me was whether I could get them off a community employment scheme because they were happily unemployed and wanted to be left alone. However, fairly soon people asked me if I could stop them from being taken off a scheme because they wanted to stay on it. When people had done three years on a community employment scheme, there was a battle to extend it. There were also battles in regard to people over 55 and over 60.

FÁS plays a very important role. We spoke about what it is doing in the community. Projects would not be possible without it. FÁS provides psychological help and support to people by providing training to enable them get back to work and by enabling them to participate in community employment schemes and so on. People have something to do when they get up in the morning and a social outlet to meet people in similar circumstances. The new unemployed are better trained and skilled. We must be able to tie what we have in terms of training and skills with what we need.

There are opportunities in this Bill and I wish the Minister of State well with it. I heard Members of the Opposition state they will table amendments to it. I hope the standard of the amendments tabled will be a little higher than some of the debate which has taken place. Cheap shots were taken which are not becoming of this House.