Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very welcome. I concur with Senator Wall’s comments about her staff in the Department of Social Protection. I have always found them to be extremely courteous on any issue or query we may have had and in her own office, Pauric and everyone have always been extremely courteous. I also wish to compliment the Minister on an excellent Social Welfare Bill. I know how hard she fought at the earlier negotiations to get a significant financial package put in place and to put in place a scheme that would benefit the most vulnerable in our society. I know she was extremely passionate about extending the fuel allowance and schemes such as the hot school-meals programme which has been rolled out across the country. Ultimately, welfare is there to support those in need and they have been supported by the Minister to make sure those packages were put in place.

I strongly support the changes relating to jobseekers and those who do not engage. It is something for which I and other colleagues have strongly advocated and the Minister said prior to the budget that we need to create a gap between welfare and employment. Something we pick up from a lot of employers is that they are struggling to get people to fill roles. That is something the Minister wanted to address in the budget. We need to create that gap so I support the doubling of the penalty for those not engaging with the Department in relation to schemes or whatever.

On a personal level, it would be remiss of me not to speak about the significant amount of work the Minister has done over her years as a person in political life. I have known her for many years. She is someone who has been very supportive to me in my role as an elected representative in Longford and making sure the communities in my county have been supported.I put on the record my personal thanks to her for that support. I thank her for the support she has given to every single community in the country. Since she took over as Minister for Rural and Community Development, she has made sure that every community in the country, be it a town, village or rural community, has had the opportunity to benefit from Government funding schemes to improve their community. Every public representative here, both Government and Opposition, will say that.

When proposals have been put to her with regard to different new schemes that we felt could be of benefit, she has taken them on board and put them in place. When we travel through every county, we see community centres, GAA clubs, walking tracks and playgrounds which have been funded by the funds that have been put in place through the Department of Rural and Community Development, and the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, has fought to ensure that the funding has been in place to make sure that happened.

I wish the Minister along with Eric and all the family well. I was going to say in retirement, but I do not think it will be retirement because I know she will be involved and keep working for the Fine Gael members in Monaghan and Cavan. I note that she put on her social media page a quote from, I think, Dr. Seuss, "Don't cry because it's over; smile because it happened". There was a beautiful picture of her on the top of St. Macartin's Cathedral in Monaghan on, as she says, her home soil. She made many things happen for many people. She made a huge difference to many people's individual lives and the lives of their families and in every single community in the country, in the work she has done and fought for to make her Department represent every community in the country. She has done that exceptionally well.

I am extremely proud to have served with her as a member of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party. I am disappointed that I will not be joining her as a Dáil Member. As I have said, she has left a legacy in every community in the country and that is something to be extremely proud of. Not many people who have retired from political life would have done that. I thank her for her service to all our communities throughout the country. On a personal level, I thank her for her support to me and also for her support to every single community in County Longford.