Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I would like to begin by responding to Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh's comment on the numbers of families in which no adult in the household has a significant amount of work, which is generally defined as less than ten hours a week of paid work. I will send the exact technical definition to the Deputy. This recognised measure of deprivation has become a very important social indicator in recent years. It is now used by the ESRI which has worked on a couple of papers on the issue in recent years. I invite members to envisage a family in which none of the three adults of working age - between 18 years and the pension age of 66 - has a significant level of work. One or more of them might have a low level of work, which is defined as up to ten hours a week. The children in these households are at risk of intergenerational unemployment because there is no role model in the household who goes to work. In the social studies of this issue that I have read many commentators have suggested these children are particularly at risk. This can be linked with the point Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin was making on communities being particularly affected. We have worked to identify communities in which there is a significant number of households in which all of the adults are jobless. The children in these households are very much at risk.

I was asked what the Department could do as it changed from a passive to an active role. We have assumed responsibility for the community employment scheme. As Minister, I have introduced two new schemes, Tús and JobBridge. I launched the JobsPlus scheme in Waterford the day before yesterday. Under this scheme, an employer who takes on a person who has been unemployed for one year will be given back €7,500 in cash on a monthly basis over a two-year period. If the employer takes on a person who has been on the live register for two years or more, he or she will be given back €10,000 in cash on a monthly basis over a two-year period. The community employment schemes represent one of the reasons I made a case to my Government colleagues in advance of last year's budget. The economy has three really big issues - unemployment, debt distress and the failure of the banks to make credit available to small and medium-sized enterprises. They are our three biggest problems. We also have a major problem as we try to get back to the international markets in order that we can borrow money at a reasonable rate. We have to take these balances into account.

I was urged to consider the effects of these payments on families and communities. Community employment schemes and the Tús scheme are really important because they allow families in which the adults may be jobless to participate in their own communities. I think most people here would know that tremendously positive and good work is being done. Last year I gave money from my budget to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs for area-based approaches to child poverty, even though my budget was facing the kind of financial pressure about which we have been talking. I am happy to report that when the first sample of youth unemployment schemes was examined last week, my Department came in strongly behind Ballymun's application to be the first youth guarantee programme area. As an initial piece of work, all of the agencies in the Ballymun area will be brought together to work with young people. When I visited the area last Thursday or Friday, I met young people who were involved in and participating in these programmes. I received positive feedback about the effect they could have on young people from jobless households and who were not working.

I was also asked about processing times. I am happy to say that as in the case of family income supplement, there are no backlogs with regard to carers. They are up to date. The critical issue is whether people give all of the information required in support of their claims at the time when they submit their claims. Just this week, a Deputy who is not present at this meeting made a query about a family on the basis that the mother was not in receipt of rent supplement. When we examined the case, we found that the person in question had not yet made an application to the Department. We had to tell the Deputy that the person in question was not being prevented in any way from receiving rent supplement. We said we could not advance the matter in the absence of an application. People are working with us to make sure the applications are made and are as complete as possible.

I accept that the basic rates are really important. I remind the committee that when I introduced my first general social welfare Bill as Minister, I reversed the reduction that had been made in the minimum wage. The country needs a framework that gives jobless families the capacity to have a living wage. A living wage consists of two elements, the first of which is the minimum wage. In Ireland the minimum wage is relatively high compared to the provision made in many other countries in Europe. The other aspect of the living wage is that if one does not have enough hours, one will not have enough income. That is why an employer who wishes to benefit from the JobsPlus scheme which I launched in Waterford on Monday will be required to give the employee at least 30 hours of work a week.

One of the points that was repeatedly stressed by the groups I met on Friday was that these issues should be considered on a cross-government basis. As we have mentioned, the economic impact of social welfare expenditure should be examined. Equally, the impact of changes across the areas of government should be examined. That is certainly another issue to be considered.