Galway Bay fm newsroom:
Planned new Rural Social Schemes for Athenry and Gort are set to be scrapped due to a lack of funding for supervisors.
That's according to Galway East Deputy Anne Rabbite, who says a recent allocation of new spaces to Galway Rural Development is a positive step foward.
However, she says the Department of Social Protection has not made any allowances for supervisors needed for new schemes.
Deputy Rabbitte says this means planned schemes for Gort and Athenry cannot go ahead and additional spaces will instead be given to existing schemes.
It's after a number of Galway TD's contributed to a Dáil debate in recent weeks on working conditions for RSS supervisors.
The chamber heard that the position is underpaid and under-appreciated and there are long-running issues over pension contributions and entitlements.
Fianna Fail Deputy Rabbitte says Rural Social Schemes make enormous contributions to local communities.
She also says an additional supervisor would cost the Department very little - and existing supervisors are completely under-valued.
