Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. They have captured some of the groups that have no access to some of the activation programmes. Disability groups and lone parents were mentioned but there are many other groups which are not fully reflected. For example, there are adult dependants. While the latter can apply for a payment in their own right, for various reasons they do not. Some of it is to do with culture or the way families are structured but those people are unemployed or underemployed because most are stay-at-home mothers and fathers. Until such time as they receive a payment in their own right, they do not appear on the live register and have no access to programmes which could encourage them to get work or improve the possibility of their gaining employment, especially in circumstances where they have been out of the workplace for some time. There are others who are adult dependants in some ways but who are not in receipt of a payment in that regard. They are in family situations where, in most cases, the husband's income exceeds the threshold. As such, the person cannot receive some social welfare payment and has no access. In many cases, these people are stuck with whatever educational qualifications or employability standards they had initially. There are others who are working a low number of hours. I refer to people who work for two hours or three hours, five days a week. It is not all lone parents. I know of a case which I have raised before of a woman who works two hours a day. She owns her own home because she inherited it. She does not want to change her work but wants to access some payment to recognise it. She receives nothing because she is working five days a week albeit only two hours a day. She gets €100 and spends €20 to get to work. Without the work she has, she says her sanity would go.

Another group that has been brought to my attention, the plight of which I have raised here before, is that comprising carers. There are many carers whose caring role is coming to an end either because the cared-for person is nearing the end of life or is getting better. The carer is stuck in a situation where he or she does not have access to some of the activation programmes he or she might have been able to access until he or she finishes caring or is in receipt of a new payment for a full year and then starts to upskill. There are others. Some of them are recognisable people and some of that has been recognised here.

Not all of these people want money. It is not about money. Some of them want to be out of the house and some of them want to contribute to society and to be meaningful. In community employment terms, there are many people who are adult dependants and staying at home and who have skills. They may be nearing what we have set as a timeframe in terms of the age and they want to contribute. However, because they are dependant adults and not in receipt of payments, we do not encourage them to get involved in community employment or its equivalent.

We have an opportunity now. The Department and, possibly, the Minister are looking at it. Our activation numbers are approximately 80,000. As such, there are 80,000 not on the live register. We have 80,000 places. As the economy improves, rather than reducing the activation provision available, we should keep it open to capture the lone parents and people with disabilities to whom the witnesses referred, but also the group I refer to who have never been captured. That would enhance their employability if that is what they wish or help them to gain some benefit in terms of community employment, which would be ideal.