James Denning says that before he started the community employment scheme with the North Leitrim Men's Group he used to spend most days lying in bed in his isolated farmhouse a few miles from Kiltyclogher.
"This is keeping me healthy. I used to be up half the night watching television and sleeping all day. You're meeting nobody and you don't feel fit at all. When you're out every day, you have an interest in life," he says.
At 58, he doesn't believe he'll be able to get a job when the scheme ends. He left his home in Leitrim as a young man and spent years in England before returning when his father died. Three of his brothers and his sister also emigrated and never returned to live in Ireland. He worked in a factory in Sligo for 10 years before being laid off.
"I am living on top of a mountain and have gone four days without seeing anybody. There used to be 12 houses in the area and now I'm the only one left. They just died off or went to England or sold off the land to the forestry."
Like most of the men on the scheme, James lives alone. Many of them live in fairly primitive conditions in old farmhouses with no bathrooms, central heating or hot water.
The co-ordinator of the North Leitrim Men's Group, Pat Love, says he started the scheme because these men were forgotten about, living in isolated farmhouses.
He went out to their houses to encourage them to take the huge step of enrolling on such a scheme. The course includes basic skills like cookery and literacy to help improve their lives.
The new FAS regulations, he argues, are basically saying to these men to "go back where they came from".
Both Philip Cullen and Patrick Keaney are on their third scheme and will have to leave the project for good if the new rules aren't changed. Philip, who's also in his 50s, says there's no way he could get a job. "I am getting kind of old now for factory work," he says.
Even if he could find a job in Manorhamilton, about eight miles from his home, there is no public transport to take him there. A bus runs from Kiltyclogher to Manorhamilton only on Saturdays. Transport is provided as part of the men's group scheme.
They are all proud of the work they have done in their home village of Kiltyclogher, building stone walls, gardening and working with an artist on a decorative mosaic along the river bank.
By taking part in this scheme, they get an extra £20 per week in addition to their dole. It's not a lot of money to a Government with large budget surpluses, but taking part in the scheme makes a big difference to their lives.
James sums up why they should be allowed continue on the scheme. "It gives you something to get up for in the morning, and you feel an awful lot better when you're out meeting people. That's the whole thing as far as I am concerned. The money doesn't matter."