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

Yes, €2.4 million. That is the cost of changing the disregard on JST from €90 to €110. There is approximately €10.5 million in respect of other factors, including paydays and things of that nature.

On maternity benefit, I have been to Buncrana to witness it myself and to meet the staff there. It is probably down to a number of factors. It started to emerge as a problem in February. Some of it is down to staff changes and the high turnover of staff. Much of it is down to the new system. Essentially, the forms have to be scanned in. In the past, it was paper based. Now, where it is a paper application, the forms have to be scanned in. There are still a lot of old forms out there. Some of the different centres throughout the country are still giving out the old forms. It is our responsibility to solve it. I am not blaming those centres; it is up to us to tell them to withdraw the forms and bring in the new ones. In some cases the forms are printed out or photocopied and the scanners are not picking them up right, which means that staff have to go through them individually and re-enter the details. That has caused a delay that was not there in the past. We are catching up on the backlog and, as a result of that, we are starting to see improved times. We have additional staff from Letterkenny brought into Buncrana to help out and staff are being offered overtime. The office is opening on Saturdays on overtime to get through the backlog. I am confident that we will resolve the matter. If a person is entitled to any maternity benefit payment, that person will get paid in arrears so nobody will lose money, although there may be a delay in getting it. The online system can produce an instant answer in two thirds of cases and all that is required is the public service card, PSC, which requires a visit to the local Intreo centre. That is all it requires and signing up to www.MyWelfare.ie. I have encouraged people to do this because the PSC is needed for child benefit as well. It would be a good idea for anyone who is expecting a child and who does not have a PSC to get one because it is increasingly required for any public services.