Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. The performance of the PRSI has been good. That shows that people are getting back to work. With regard to the extra spending on the non-contributory State pension, domiciliary care allowance and back-to-work family dividend he mentioned, the impact of the Christmas bonus is built into those increases. For example, spending on the non-contributory State pension for 2021 is expected to come to €1.085 billion. This includes €21.9 million for the Christmas bonus. That is why there is an overspend of €19.5 million. Spending on the domiciliary care allowance for 2021 is expected to total €203.1 million. That includes €4.2 million for the Christmas bonus. This has resulted in an overspend of €3.3 million. Excluding the bonus, there would only have been a slight underspend on this particular scheme. Spending on the back-to-work family dividend for 2021 is expected to total €12.6 million, which includes €200,000 for the Christmas bonus. Spending on the Magdalen laundries scheme is expected to total €3.2 million, which includes €100,000 for the Christmas bonus. Spending on the blind pension scheme is expected to total €12.8 million, which includes €200,000 for the Christmas bonus. I hope I have outlined the increases in the different schemes satisfactorily.

I have a breakdown regarding spending on the PUP. I can give the Deputy some of these figures, which are very interesting. There are currently 54,824 people in receipt of the payment. Some 31,687, or 57.8%, of these are men while 23,000, or 42.2%, are women. With regard to the rates, this week, 17,000 claimants, or 31%, are receiving €203 while the 37,818, or 69%, are receiving €250. On the age cohorts, 4,131 people under 25 are in receipt of the payment, which equates to 7.5% of the total number of recipients; 11,668, or 21.3%, are aged between 25 and 34; 14,802, or 27%, are aged between 35 and 44; 12,671, or 23%, are aged between 45 and 54; while 11,500, approximately 21%, are 55 or older. I will provide the committee with a copy of this breakdown if it is helpful. I have no problem in having it sent on.

I can only provide a broad outline with regard to the sectors involved because we do not really have any way of verifying what sectors people are in. I cannot provide any great level of detail but these are the broad sectors recipients are in. Some 1,000 people, almost 2%, work in an unclassified or unknown sector. Those working in agriculture, forestry and fisheries total 867 or 1.6%. Some 4,000, or 7%, work in manufacturing while 299 work in the area of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply. Some 5,540, or approximately 10% , of those on the PUP work in the construction sector. The wholesale and retail trades and the repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles account for 9,229, or 16%, of recipients. Some 2,800 work in transport and storage while 8,227, or approximately 15%, work in accommodation and food service activities. IT, financial and insurance services, account for approximately 7% of recipients while real estate activities account for another 7.5%. I will jump to the bigger categories. Some 3,000, or 5%, work in the area of professional, scientific and technical activities while 6,375 work in the area of administrative and support service activities. Approximately 950 recipients work in public administration and 1,800 in education. Some 2,000 work in the area of human health and social work activities while 1,325 work in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector. Some 2,792 work in other services. Some 12,557, or 24%, of those on the PUP are self-certified as self-employed while 39,545, approximately 75%, are employees. That is, again, a good breakdown. I will have it forwarded to the committee.

With regard to what we are doing to get people back to work, of course, a number of our services have not been operational due to Covid. That is why there has been an underspend. I had plans to do a roadshow around the country to encourage employers to meet with people who are looking for work and to link up with them but, unfortunately, I had to cancel that because of the new restrictions. I intend to get out on the road again in the new year. The new strategy, Pathways to Work, was published in July. This shares the key aims of the programme for Government and sets out how the State will provide employment supports for the years ahead. One of its commitments is to expand the caseload capacity of the public employment services, including both the internal services in Intreo offices and contracted services, by 100,000 jobseekers.

The focus of Pathways to Work is to ensure as many employment and training opportunities as possible are made available to people who are unemployed and they are supported in preparing and competing for these opportunities. As the committee will be aware, there is a significant number of apprenticeship places and we have the work placement programme. There is a number of different schemes there that we will be encouraging and working with people to take up in the new year. I hope the restrictions will have eased off somewhat by then.