Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to clarify that there were three types of payments in the case of bereavement, two of which still exist. One of these is an exceptional needs payment where a person can go to his or her community welfare officer and say that he or she cannot afford to pay funeral expenses or burial costs. We can help with that. Approximately €5 million was paid out to help 1,000 people to date this year. In the region of 3,000 people last year and 1,000 people so far this year received an exceptional needs payment to assist them with burial and funeral costs and that is still available. Under the PRSI scheme, there is an occupational injury payment if someone dies in work as a consequence of that work. That is still part of PRSI. What was abolished in 2014 was the more general bereavement grant. That would cost about €20 million to reintroduce. It is something that should be considered in the context of the budget. We must prioritise. We can never do everything we would like to do in one year but it is certainly something that could be considered for budget 2018, along with the telephone allowance. These are two things I would like to restore in 2018. I got a lot in the previous budget and, hopefully, I will have enough influence to get a lot in the next budget as well.

I will be as clear as possible about JobPath. The allocation to JobPath in 2017 was €65 million. That roughly works out as an average cost per participant of €1,000. When we consider the number of people who, as a result of or with the assistance of JobPath, move from welfare to work and paying taxes, we can see that this is a very good investment at only €1,000 per participant. The cost is €65 million in 2017 and the return is very considerable. I do not like to compare JobPath with community employment because they are very different programmes with very different purposes. However, members might like to know that JobPath will cost €65 million in 2017 while community employment will cost €600 million. The cost per participant in JobPath is €1,000 while the cost per participant in community employment is between €5,000 and €7,000. That gives members an idea of the difference in cost compared to outcomes.

The Deputy is right that there were no beneficiaries or winners from the changes in 2012. However, those changes were made for a reason. They were made at a time when budgets were very tight and the then Minister, Deputy Burton, with my support and that of the Cabinet, decided that instead of cutting pensions, and we never cut the pension even throughout the worst recession in a generation-----