Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I can only assume the absence of the rest of the Opposition is because by and large they are happy enough with the very positive changes in social welfare and they have left it in the good hands of Deputy O'Dea to speak for all of them. Many of the changes we made are positive for many people.

The additional money that is being sought for the jobseeker's allowance is €120.11 million but this is offset by an expected underspend of €15.9 million on jobseeker's benefit. The net figure is €104.2 million. Some €32 million of the €104 million is the payment of the Christmas bonus for people on jobseeker's payments. Some €11.6 million is for advance payments due to some of the recipients of jobseeker's allowance and benefit who would be paid on Friday, 1 January but the payment has been brought forward a day earlier to Thursday, 31 December. The balance of €60.3 million is due to higher numbers of jobseekers getting a payment and other factors such as higher average payment values.

The Deputy probably knows it from his own constituency that people who emigrated have been returning home, for example people who have been in Australia for two or three years. In many cases they were involved in construction. I know that in rural areas people might not get work immediately, they may have recourse for some period provided they satisfy the habitual residence condition, HRC, to jobseeker's and they may well qualify on income grounds.

The 2015 Revised Estimates Volume, REV, made a financial provision for an average live register of 337,000 but the outturn is expected to be somewhat higher because of returning emigrants. The figure will be approximately 6,700 higher than the provision in the 2015 REV, but I think there is a positive element because from my experience of going around the country, it encompasses a number of people coming home. Members may be aware of the Australian system of visas, where people will have exhausted their period at the end of two years.

There are 40,000 fewer people than the outturn in 2014 and 100,000 fewer than 2011, when the live register averaged 445,000. In fact today we have the CSO estimated figures for unemployment at the end of November, which is 191,000. Given where we started in these discussions some years ago, when everybody was forecasting that the Irish economy could hit an unemployment figure of 500,000, it is really positive news.

Expenditure on jobseeker's will have fallen from just over €3.9 billion in 2011 to just over €3.1 billion in 2015. That is a reduction of €783 million or 20.1%. On the one-parent family payment, the extra €63.3 million, some €7 million is required to pay the Christmas bonus, €8.3 million is due to the freezing of the earnings disregard for one-family payments at the 2014 level of €90 from January 2015 - members may remember I introduced that in legislation earlier in the year. Some €14.5 million is due to the extension of the special provision for carers to those caring for another adult. It was always extended to people caring for children, but in discussion at committee meetings, we extended it to people caring for adults.

Those recipients remain on the one-parent family payment, while continuing to receive the carer's allowance at half rate. This provision applies until the youngest child is 16 years of age. Some €29 million is due to approximately 5,000 fewer people than expected having transferred to the jobseeker's transitional payment on 2 July 2015. In other words, the Estimate provided for 19,000 but only 14,000 people transferred. The €9.2 million is due to higher average payment values for those remaining on the one-parent family payment after July 2015. This is because recipients whose youngest children are younger than seven years of age are less likely to be working or they work less than those with older children. The remaining recipients are, therefore, likely to have less means. This is offset by €4.7 million arising from various offsetting factors.

The number of one-parent family recipients that transitioned from the scheme in July, at 25,500, was less than the estimated 29,400. In addition to the extension of the carer's special provision, this is due to a number of factors, including cases where lone parents had a child under the age threshold but had not made this known to their local offices, customers who are mid-way through a full-time course of education who are eligible to remain on one-parent family payment until such time as they complete their courses and special provision for customers in receipt of a blind pension which allows them to remain on one-parent family payment until their youngest child is 16 years of age. As noted by the Deputy, there has been a significant increase in family income supplement, FIS, arising from the reforms introduced in July. This has resulted in additional expenditure on FIS of approximately €630,000 per week to end July and approximately €760,000 per week up to end October. The impact on FIS could be approximately €40 million in a full year but I always anticipated that many people, once they transitioned through the reforms, would benefit from a significant increase in income.

The increase in the number of lone parents availing of FIS is a positive outcome of the reforms as this indicates that the people involved have increased their working hours or found employment. As of end November, approximately 7,200 former lone parent recipients are in receipt of the back-to-work family dividend, out of a total back-to-work family claim load of approximately 10,200. There were 10,760 qualified child beneficiaries associated with these recipients. The majority of former lone parent payment recipients are now in receipt of the back-to-work dividend and family income supplement. Members who are familiar with individual cases in this area will know that these people have received a significant boost to their incomes. I introduced this reform because I want the emphasis to be on people, once their children reach a certain age, being able to take up education and employment and boost their incomes. I think this is a view shared across Government, including by the Taoiseach.

On 1 January next the minimum wage will increase. Changes have also been made to the step-effects of PRSI such that all the benefits will be to the income earner. We have also increased the FIS allowance by €5 in respect of a first child and €10 in respect of a second and subsequent children. From January, the earnings of the families about which we are now speaking, many of whom are on low wages, should increase significantly. I think that is good. Provision of €30 million is also made for the back-to-work family dividend, which has proven very popular. There are now over 10,000 in receipt of this payment which we introduced in May. I am satisfied that people and employers are aware of this scheme and that many people are now taking it up. It is very beneficial. This cohort of people will also benefit from the increases in child benefit and, more than likely, from some of the changes to the USC, in particular the raising of the threshold in the case of those who work part-time.