In recent years community and voluntary groups the length and breadth of this island kept the country going when at times it looked like an impossible task. In particular, in rural Ireland when few other supports were at hand, the community and voluntary sector came to the forefront in delivering local services such as meals on wheels, tidy towns projects and maintaining towns and villages throughout the countryside. For many voluntary groups to survive, they need a workforce such as those that can be provided by work schemes, for example, the rural social, RS, scheme, community employment, CE, scheme and the Tús scheme. Workers on those schemes have worked diligently, many of them carrying out work usually done by local authorities which they can no longer do due to embargoes on recruitment of road maintenance staff.

In the past 12 months, it has become more difficult for community and voluntary groups to access workers, especially in rural areas where rules and guidelines are taking over from what was previously work on the ground. It cannot be more simple. A person who is in receipt of a social welfare payment and who cannot get another type of employment should be able to go on a work scheme and stay on it until employment is found for him or her. Instead of that being the case many people who are called to go on CE, Tús or RS schemes in rural areas in particular have been told they are on JobPath and although they do not have a job they are not allowed to go on any other work scheme until JobPath finds them a job. That is causing a nightmare for community and voluntary groups in filling positions to carry out works in the community, leaving many of them without a workforce, especially as many CE workers are now only allowed to stay on a scheme for 12 months and have to go back on welfare after that period.

It could not be more simple. If a worker is on a work scheme working while in receipt of a welfare payment, he or she should be commended on doing so and should be left on it until he or she finds employment. All those problems are not intended by the Department of Social Protection to undermine community and voluntary groups but that is the effect they are having. That is the case in particular in rural communities where a pool of suitable workers has to meet with such criteria and people find it almost impossible to get on a scheme. The new obstacles are creating nightmares for groups and leaving local communities without a workforce in many cases. I called in the programme for Government for separate rural and urban work schemes because one hat does not fit all. It is becoming more clear that rural issues such as low employment, low population and rural isolation are not entering into the mindset of those city-based individuals in the Department of Social Protection. I urge the Taoiseach to set up separate rural and urban work schemes and immediately reverse the rules which prevent a person on JobPath from being able to work on any other scheme.

The Deputy should look at the rural development programme launched recently by the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, which, for the first time in many years, is a comprehensive plan that is realistic and can be achieved. The CSO figures today show that unemployment is down to 7.1% from 15.2% just a few years ago. Last week, the Minister for Social Protection announced an extra 550 places under the rural social scheme for those on farm assist or fish assist depending on the areas in which they live. There are plans to look at community involvement and extensions of time for people who have been working on community schemes and who cannot be replaced that easily so I do not accept that there is no opportunity for every community around the country to benefit from this programme. This, together with the programme for Government, which impacts across the country and every spectrum, was evidenced in the response from communities all over the country last year in the centenary commemorative events for 1916 where communities came out and demonstrated their own power and potential. I believe very strongly in that.

The programme launched last week covers a range of opportunities for communities all over the country and the money is in place between now and 2020 for communities to make that happen. Whether it is through the local enterprise office or the Intreo office, the systems have changed so that people looking for employment or opportunity now have the chance to sit down with somebody directly to see what might be appropriate for them or in their best interests to allow them to get off social protection and get into a better system by having a job and a wage. While the Deputy's point can be valid in any area, I have to say that arising from the publication of the plan last week, there is the opportunity for every community to benefit from a range of things, many of which were identified in the Commission for the Economic Development of Rural Areas report a number of years ago and which are now embellished in this programme for rural development and the achievement of rural potential. I would advise the Deputy to follow through on elements of that with particular reference to the locality in west Cork to which he referred.

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. I hope the Taoiseach envisages that the rural plan will be one that will create many jobs. From what I have seen of it, I feel there is a lot of copy and paste in it but our judgment on that will be down the road. The set up of JobPath was poorly thought through, in my own view and the view of many in the community. Schemes like community employment schemes, Tús and the rural social scheme need further support. There should be no more instances where good workers are sent home after 12 months when there is no other employment in their community. There should also be no more instances of a person having to wait on social welfare for 12 months if on welfare. There should be an immediate work start in the community. There should be no more strict guidelines leading to more and more community and voluntary groups finding it impossible to fill positions. It is wrong to require individuals from peninsulas like Mizen Head, Sheep's Head and Beara throughout west Cork and throughout the country to have to travel possibly 25 miles in some cases to meet JobPath requirements. This shows little or no respect for individuals on welfare.

The need to set up a rural and urban works scheme is critical, in my view and in the view of the community and voluntary sector, as is a clear understanding of the needs in those communities like employment and travel. Eligibility for entry to all work schemes needs to be relaxed because if not, the communities in west Cork and throughout the country will be far sadder places in which to live.

Communities in west Cork are already doing work here. The Wild Atlantic Way is being developed as far as Mizen Head or Sheep's Head in terms of hospitality and tourism opportunities. There are so many opportunities community leadership can avail of through a series of issues in those programmes. They may not be of the order of millions but they certainly have the potential to employ people at local level and give them the opportunity to grow small enterprises from communities - not just those like the Deputy's communities but communities across the country. I know this myself from so many areas. There is so much work that can be done under the rural social scheme, for example, where a place might need to be improved and brightened up for elderly people living on their own.

There are many small ways in which the countryside can be improved by virtue of these particular schemes. However, the activities involved must be suitable and appropriate for the people taking part in the schemes. Participants might own their own farm or business, for example, which requires them to be able to work for a few hours. That flexibility is there. Unemployment has fallen from 15.3% to 7.1%. It needs greater imagination and creativity to enable workers to avail of the range of potential that is out there.