Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and offer my congratulations to Mr. McKeon on his appointment as Secretary General. I apologise for my croaky voice. I thank the Minister for her presentation and authentic engagement with the reports produced by the committee. I will not go over the ground again in terms of pensions but perhaps it is not an adequate solution to talk about the non-contributory pension because the issue at hand is a matter of economic independence for women. Because the non-contributory pension takes account of household costs it would not be an option for many women. It is also discriminatory because there are situations whereby a person who has made the same amount of contributions as another is disadvantaged by the averaging system. It has been acknowledged by Governments for many years that the system disadvantages and discriminates against some people who have made the same contribution as others. We are moving to total contribution because the current system is flawed. The problem with the 2012 changes is not solely what was done then but that they were changes on top of a system that was acknowledged to be flawed. As was very ably said by the Chairman, it will cost millions to amend the changes that were introduced as austerity cost-saving measures but the cost will not disappear if the system is not amended in the budget and, rather, it will be carried by women and is a very systematic disadvantaging of women. We are trying to strengthen the Minister's hand in addressing this issue. It is a concern for all of Government because the Government has a commitment, for example, to gender and equality proofing of the budget. That is a key point because there is no clearer issue that addresses concerns of gender and equality. Extra money should be found to address this anomaly because it is an all-of-Government concern. The Minister should make that demand and I urge her to do so.

There are several other anomalies in respect of pensions and I engaged with the Minister's predecessor on some, such as voluntary contributions. There are also questions regarding anomalies for carers but perhaps they can be addressed at another time as I do not want to go into too much detail on them.

When considering the new system and auto-enrolment, the Minister has emphasised she does not wish to see discrimination based on income . The current tax credits and Revenue system in terms of tax relief for private pensions is discriminatory as it gives a higher protection to those on the marginal rate and therefore there is a concern in that regard. I welcome that the Minster is committed to trying to address it in any new system. I would like her to assure members that she will also address the issues of care and how care credits may be given or care recognised within any new system. The issue of care will not only be addressed in terms of auto-enrolment but in terms of a total contribution system when that is commenced. I again thank the Minister for her engagement on that issue but it needs to be further addressed.

I very much welcome the Minister's statements over the summer regarding lone parents. She is committed to the issue and has responded to it. There is a very strong mandate from society and from this committee in its report to address the issue while bearing in mind issues of gender and equality because the figures in terms of poverty and deprivation in respect of lone parents are quite shocking, as the Minister is very aware. Perhaps she could expand on some of the recommendations made by the committee and her thinking on them. Some do not have a direct cost but probably would have a knock-on cost. One such recommendation involves re-arranging the qualifications for various options for lone parents. There are specific recommendations in areas such as maintenance, housing and education and I will not address all of those issues. However, recommendations I will mention are an increase in the qualified child payment for teenage children in particular given the evidence the committee has seen - evidence funded by the Department through the Vincentian Partnership - of the higher cost of teenage children, ensuring the income disregard is restored for both the one-parent family payment and jobseeker's transitional payment and ensuring return to education as an option is not compromised by hurdles in respect of the rent allowance or SUSI.

There is also an anomaly relating to FIS where, for example, 15 hours of child care is available but 19 hours of work are required to be entitled to the payment. That can be particularly hard on lone parents.

Another crucial question relates to separating activation supports from conditionality and developing quality part-time employment services. A key element is people remaining on the jobseeker's transitional payment until their child reaches the age of 18. They could access the supports without conditionality. That is a wider question. I acknowledge the Minister is piloting a scheme with jobless families but many more of the hidden unemployed could be brought into employment if, for example, the requirement for full-time availability was removed and the message of conditionality separated out with the focus instead on empowering people who want to voluntarily seek employment and widen access to employment supports.

I hope to communicate with the Minister in respect of the citizens information services and the public services card. I compliment her on putting the public duty relating to equality and human rights into the strategic plan and I would like to engage with her further on that as well.