Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

The jobseekers' guidelines proved for a person's family circumstances to be taken into account. For example, it may be unreasonable for a person with certain family responsibilities to seek work which involves a considerable amount of travelling time to and from work. Also, while the guidelines for the jobseeker's scheme do not specifically mention child care, it is one of the aspects which could impact on their availability. A deciding officer must take all matters into consideration, as provided for in the the guidelines.

As Senator Prendergast is aware, the policy is to make the schemes included in the activation programme local in nature. For example, the rural social scheme, the CE scheme, etc., are local in nature. The Senator can take it, therefore, that somebody who has children will not have to travel 100 miles to take up a job on the minimum wage. That does not and will not happen. If it were and an unreasonable view was to be taken, I would be the first to come in here to amend the scheme. However, it does not happen in practice. At times, the more one legislates, the more one creates chances for persons to make excuses, while those who are legitimate lose out.