Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. It might be of assistance to the two Ministers and Minister of State concerned if he were to let them know there is a briefing in the audiovisual room today at 12.30 p.m. They would be most welcome to attend and meet directly with rural social scheme and Tús supervisors and hear directly from those affected.

When these schemes were first set up they were seen as job activation measures that dealt with income support and rural isolation. They have evolved over time to become essential services in rural areas. This was not factored in at the outset. There needs to be a change of mindset in the Department as regards how we view these schemes. We must recognise that it suits many people to be on a scheme while doing some work on their farms or in the fishing community.It just works well for the local community. We want to acknowledge that and not to try to force people off these schemes when there is really no need to do that.

The second point relates to the eligibility criteria. The pool of people who qualify to get on these schemes is getting smaller. When we match that with the way the economy is currently, the jobs market and the fact we are close to full employment, it is becoming next to impossible to get people onto the schemes as they just are not available. We need to expand the eligibility criteria or we will see these schemes getting smaller and closing down eventually. Those are my two points.