I too welcome to the Distinguished Visitors Gallery the Japanese ambassador and the mayor of Waterford city and county and his wife.

I welcome the announcements today of the Ministers for Social Protection and Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputies Humphreys and Darragh O'Brien, regarding changes to the community employment, CE, Tús and rural social scheme, RSS, schemes. As we know, these are very important schemes throughout our country that play a very important role within communities by providing amenities and they are a very important part of the fabric of many communities. There are currently 19,000 participants in CE, 5,000 in Tús and just under 3,000 in the rural social scheme and the investment by the Government this year will amount to €500 million. The changes announced include the removal of the six-year limit for all participants in the rural social scheme, the eligibility of Tús being extended to persons in receipt of a disability payment, new flexibility to allow CE schemes to recruit eligible candidates directly to fill 30% of places, Intreo to increase significantly the number of referrals to CE, with schemes required to offer places to at least 60% of candidates referred, a new pilot scheme to extend eligibility to qualified adults to be developed, and a continuation to allow schemes to extend individual placements and retain existing participants in cases where no replacement candidates have been selected.

These schemes play a vital role in local services such as childcare, meals on wheels, the maintenance and upkeep of local amenities and graveyards, the extension of footpaths and the building or rebuilding of walls, so they do a lot of great work throughout the country. The strength of the economy at present and the high level of employment have presented challenges to the schemes in regard to getting participants, and Ministers and the wider Government have listened to the concerns of supervisors regarding the need to provide and enact changes to increase the number of participants. I have received much engagement and correspondence from people in places such as Maam and Clonbur where there are difficulties getting participants, so these changes are welcome.

I also welcome the opening of the ex-gratia payment for CE supervisors and assistant supervisors, which is a good initiative. They had a long-fought battle, going back to the Labour Court recommendation of 2008, and I welcome the Government's decision to provide a gratuity payment. Nevertheless, RSS and Tús supervisors have queried whether they might be eligible for a similar gratuity in the near future. Of course, they do not yet have a Labour Court recommendation but I hope the Government can engage with them. Perhaps the Deputy Leader could contact the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, in regard to the eligibility of RSS and Tús supervisors for future schemes. Yesterday I raised a similar issue in the context of home help. Travel costs for participants are problematic at the moment, not least given the price of fuels and the increasing burden on participants.

I also extend a céad míle fáilte to our guests.

I join Senator Kyne in welcoming the announcement of the Ministers, Deputies Humphreys and Darragh O'Brien, on behalf of the Government regarding the CE and Tús schemes.

The Senator spoke about the six or seven important changes in that regard. It should be noted that these are in addition to changes introduced earlier this year that allowed participants on CE schemes and the RSS who were more than 60 years of age to remain on those schemes until they reached retirement age.

These schemes are vital, not just to rural areas, but to urban ones as well. With our parliamentary party, the Deputy Leader, Deputies Ó Cuív and Calleary and I have for some time been meeting supervisors and people involved in these schemes. They will be happy with this Government announcement. It is an employee's market in terms of jobs at the moment, and if we did nothing, we would find it difficult to fill these schemes. As Senator Kyne mentioned, these schemes are important for parishes, Tidy Towns groups and groups that provide services for older people, social services and disability services. They play a major role, so it is important that the Government continues to invest in them. In excess of €500 million is being spent on them annually. The news is welcome.

I will now turn to a hardy annual. Senator Hackett, the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, knows what I am going to mention. We are already starting to speak about flooding along the River Shannon again, particularly along the callows. It is not that the areas are becoming flooded. Rather, most of the farmlands there are in the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS, under which farmers cannot cut meadows until 1 July. Land has become particularly wet, and even though the level of rainfall so far has been below the summer average, the persistent rain over recent days has led many people to grow concerned. There is good co-operation with the Office of Public Works, OPW, and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is monitoring the situation, but it is important that the weir gates be kept open. I understand that most of them are, which will allow the water to flow towards Limerick without causing any damage along the way. It is important for the farmers that we not let their lands flood. They are involved in GLAS and cannot cut their meadows before 1 July. If the current weather continues – the forecast does not look god – then there could be some difficulties. We must stay focused on this matter and remember that these farmers need fodder this year in particular.

Before I call the next Senator, I welcome our guests from the Ferns Diocesan Youth Service, FDYS, in Wexford town. I thank them for visiting Seanad Éireann today. I appreciate their visit.