Marie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms O'Brien and Mr. Stewart for coming in. I also thank the departmental officials who are really good for coming in whenever we request them to answer our questions. This is an issue I have been raising constantly since I was elected to the Seanad. These guys here will say, "She is off again like a broken record", as I have been fighting the cause of some of these people constantly.

One group I have always fought for is the self-employed. They are totally underestimated in this country. During the recession when things went bad for them, some of them were able to access jobseeker's allowance, but they are one of the only groups who do not get a credit while in receipt of that payment. Those on farm assist payments also do not get a credit. It will have a detrimental effect on their pensions when they come to pensionable age. I have been told the reason is that because they are self-employed, they only have to pay so much money to get 52 contributions for the year. However, when one is on jobseeker's allowance and has no income coming in, one needs a credited contribution. I have asked the guys to look at that to get a credited contribution for the self-employed. It is vital for them. They cannot access the family income supplement, which is also completely unfair. The self-employed create a lot of jobs. It may not be the big jobs the multinationals create, but two or three jobs here and there are vital.

We mentioned the under-25s and their payment. I was a bit disappointed that the budget made no provision for a bit more money for them. Different commentators will have different ideas on this and say one should always be better off working than unemployed and that this motivates the young to get involved in activation. However, when one lives in rural Ireland and the jobs are in the cities, one has to travel for interviews. The cost to young people of going through the interview process is substantial. That is why I would have liked to see that issue addressed.

We spoke about women in the home. This is another hobby-horse of mine. Today, women who are caring for their children have a homemaker's credit, which stops when the youngest child is 14. Can the officials from the Department tell the committee if there is any measure whereby we write to those women when their children are 14 to say that the homemaker's credit is finishing and invite them to engage with the Department to obtain unemployment benefit or, if a woman does not qualify for that, a credited contribution to maintain her pension entitlements going forward? I was delighted to see in the budget that the home-carer's tax credit has increased and that the amount a person can earn outside the home while retaining the credit has increased to approximately €7,000.

We spoke about lone parents and the transitional payments. I was delighted when the official stated that the lone parents who had children under seven could engage in the activation process, but it is not widely known that they can. I suppose they are not presenting every week to the social welfare office and are somewhat forgotten. It would be no harm for the Department to write to anyone who is on the one-parent family payment with children under the age of seven stating that the Intreo office is open to them and they can avail of these services.

There are two anomalies that I have come across, one of which was with the internships. Someone who was on the community employment scheme for years eventually accessed an internship and was delighted with it. He had €50 extra a week and he was delighted, and there was the prospect of a job at the end of it. All was going well until the man had a massive heart attack. He had to leave his internship and go on illness benefit - not disability allowance - because he had put up a contribution during the community employment schemes. He lost his entitlement to the fuel allowance. He lost his entitlement to the Christmas bonus. He lost his entitlement to the top-up on the SUSI special grant rate because he is now on a short-term payment. I battled the case and got him onto disability allowance, and he had all of these restored. It is an anomaly. Nobody who has been unemployed for the number of years that he was - five or six years - should have had to go through that. He should not have lost all those entitlements.

The other anomaly arose this week, and I am still dealing with it. A man who was on jobseeker's benefit had an accident and went onto illness benefit, but wanted to go back to education. He got an adult education course of four years' duration and was delighted with himself. When he went to see his case worker in early August, he was told, "Come in the week before you go to college and we will sort you out." He went in the week before to see his education officer, but was still on illness benefit. He started college on 14 September. He was signed off illness benefit on 14 September. He saw his case officer and he saw his education officer, who approved his back to education allowance, but suddenly it was taken away from him. He is now left in limbo with nothing. He went down to apply for jobseeker's allowance the week before he went to college and was given an appointment for the week after, but now he is being told, "Too late - you were not on jobseeker's allowance when you went back to education." He will have to either drop out of the course, which he may never go back to, or defer it for a year and hope to go back next year. We are now saying to this man, "Come and draw from the State for another extra year and then we will give you four years." It is wrong. We need to use a little discretion to help the likes of this person. I have loads more to say, but it is not fair to take up the whole time and I will let someone else speak. I thank the witnesses for coming in.