One man's story: Paraic Folan

For almost four years, Paraic Folan (46) has been ensuring the local community centre is ready for indoor activities such as ceilí dancing and local meetings.

From January, however, he will join the estimated 36 per cent of those unemployed in Garumna when his place on a local employment scheme ends.

"You want to be out there, meeting the people, having the craic, having a few pounds in your pocket," says Mr Folan, a father of three. "There's nothing here, no factories or anything. You'd have to go off somewhere else. If I don't get any work I'll be moving on. I might move back to England or America."

Mr Folan has been working on a scheme organised by Cumnas Teo, a development group based in Rosmuc and part-funded by the State. He and four others in the Ceantar na nOileán area, who have been working on jobs such as maintaining the local football pitch or caring for older people, will all finish the scheme early next year.

"The jobs always come and go here. They're here for a few months and they go. It's always like that. As you get older, the dole is the main thing, but you don't want to go down that route."

Mr Seán Ó Loinsigh, secretary of the local district council, Comhairle Ceantar na nOileán, is angry that FÁS schemes and community employment are being cut back. "These jobs are very important," he says. "They're not doing it for the money and the jobs may not create wealth, but they do contribute to the well-being of the community.

"They're building stone walls, village enhancements, footpaths, helping the elderly. This wouldn't be happening otherwise."

Mr Folan's work history is a evidence of the lack of opportunity in the area. He worked for eight years in one of the few industries in the region, fish-farming, but became redundant as the process became increasingly mechanised. He has also worked in various labouring jobs in Britain and the US during his adult life.

Despite the recent population influx in Garumna and Ceantar na nOileán, two of his children, aged 19 and 24, have just headed to London to find work.

"I said goodbye to them just last night. One of them has been trying to get planning permission for a house and has been turned down twice and is going for the third time. It makes me sad to see them go, given that they went to school here and everything."