Mr. Adrian Solomon:

I will answer Deputy Carey's questions first. It is true that in Romania the official unemployment rate is 4.5%. This is just for registered unemployed people who are actually getting a payment. Two years afterwards, they stop getting a payment and enter into another category, which is people unemployed but socially assisted. We have almost 4 million Romanian people scattered all over Europe, active, and there are almost 60,000 Romanians here in Ireland. In Italy we have about 1 million Romanians and the same in Spain. If all these people were back in Romania, they might not have a job. The rate or percentage the Deputy mentioned would then be much higher. Most of those who are in Romania are either young or over 45 years old. These are the two main categories in the unemployment rate. There are Government programmes which fund jobs for two years after unemployment. The employer is obligated to keep the person for one more year once the two years are finished. The occupational office agency administers specific jobs and training for all of the unemployed people. On a monthly basis, they can participate in training, courses and grants. It is called the grant for jobs. We have training, programmes and apprenticeships for those who finish college or school and want to go straight into the workforce. Many of them are funded by the European Union. One is the youth grant. Unfortunately the biggest problem for us is not the unemployment rate but people who are too highly qualified for the jobs that are on the market. We feel this issue is getting worse in all areas.

Deputy Brady asked about the pension age. Before 2035, we need to implement the same pension age for women and men. It is an obligation under a directive from the European Union. The new Bill was published yesterday by the Ministry of employment. They consider the possibility for mothers who have had more than three children to have the pension age lowered by between one and three years. Those who wish to still work after the pension age, depending of course on the individual circumstances, could stay in the workforce until the age of 70. The bereavement grant that was mentioned is paid from social insurance at the level of the national net average salary. Those who are not insured can receive only half of the grant.

Deputy Gino Kenny asked about the social welfare rate. There are supplementary benefits for families with more children and one-parent families. There are also back-to-school supplements, for high school in our case.

There is a minimum amount for people who, for various reasons, cannot be in the workforce. They would have to work a certain number of hours for the community to receive this. There are supplementary benefits for people with disabilities. The entire budget for social protection would also include the protection of the child at a national level. It is somewhere in the region of €7 billion to €8 billion per year. This does not include pensions and local community contributions. They represent between 20% and 30% of the total payments.