Mary Kearney is one of more than 400 elderly or disadvantaged people in Inishowen to have her home insulated and draught-proofed under a F┴S community employment scheme called Energy Action.
Over the four years of the project, 26 previously long-term unemployed men received training and a recognised qualification in draught-proofing and attic insulation. About a third of these went on to find full-time work.
It is a project that will be highlighted when An Tβnaiste, Ms Harney, visits Inishown on October 22nd to launch the new F┴S social economy programme in the north west.
Because community employment schemes are being phased out, Energy Action will be run in the future as a social economy project. But different rules will apply, which will inevitably mean the nature of the work will change.
Ms Denise McCool, the social economy officer with Inishowen Partnership, argues that this is not a bad thing.
She said the new scheme offers benefits to communities who want to set up a self-sustaining enterprise and they are allowed three years funding to develop their business.
She said the community employment scheme "wasn't fulfilling all the needs of community businesses" because it was based around a supervisor and a number of workers. "This is more targeted at business development," she said. "With community employment schemes, it could go on and on, but there needs to be a point where you say 'where are we going, how do we secure our jobs'.
"It challenges groups to come together and look at how they want their enterprises to develop," Ms McCool said.
There is no doubt the social economy scheme may suit and benefit some projects, but concerns have also been raised nationally that the community employment schemes met a social need that may not always be compatible with profit-making.
For example, some long-term unemployed people did important work in their areas and benefited socially from taking part but they may not necessarily be able to play a role in a "self-sustaining enterprise".
People must be over-35 to be eligible, where as in the past many were younger.
Married people will be less likely to take part because under the community employment scheme a person with an adult dependent received £158 per week, and because it operated on a week-on, week-off basis, they could earn extra money during their free week. In a social economy project, all participants will get £177 a week but only for the weeks they work, which can be full-time. This is an increase for single people who earned £104 on community employment schemes.
As a community employment scheme Energy Action worked because Donegal County Council and the North Western Health Board paid for materials, but because the elderly people only paid a nominal fee, there was no possibility of making a profit.
The manager of Inishowen Action, Ms Margaret Glackin, who managed the project, accepts that some paying customers will have to be found if it is to move towards self-sustainability.
In subsequent years, she hopes some profits can go back to workers, as she believes its success will depend on higher wages.
To date, eight projects under the umbrella of Inishowen Partnership have been approved for funding and Ms McCool is encouraging other groups to apply. She says it is an opportunity for groups to meet the demand for goods and services in their community which cannot be met by the market and which are not provided by the public service.