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

On the CE schemes, in exceptional circumstances we allow participants to stay on. However, there is a balance. We do not want people to be permanently on CE schemes, starting off at a young age and spending all their time on it when we would want them to try and get back into the workforce. For older people on the CE schemes, we are looking at reducing the age from 62 to 60. That would be a welcome change.

I will have a look at the RSS. We intend to review it in 2022 and we can have a look at what happens there. As the Deputy said, Tús is a one-year scheme. We will have to put the changes to the CE in action first. I will not start on the other schemes just yet but I keep everything under review.

I will try and give some of the figures on the Supplementary Estimate. It required €473.5 million, not €1.4 billion, because the balance of the additional expenditure will be funded from higher PRSI receipts of €825 million and higher receipts of €97 million from appropriations-in-aid. The additional €473.5 million would provide funding to pay the Christmas bonus of €312 million and meet the 2021 costs of the fuel allowance increase. That has gone up from October 2021 with the balance required for the net overspend on schemes and services. It is €130 million net.

I will give some breakdown on the PUP. There are 5,540 construction workers on PUP, which is 10% of the total. We hear that there are a lot of vacancies in that sector so we will work with people on that. That said, these are very broad categories. It is very hard to get the detail we need in the different sectors. This is very broad but those are the figures we have. We would like to be able to work with those people in that sector because we know there are job opportunities. If they need different skills that is why we have the apprenticeship schemes to upskill and reskill them to help them get back into the workforce.

I do not have anything here for aviation. I am not sure of the figures on that. It is not on this list we have and I cannot give the Deputy the figure. Those are the PUP figures and we will get a copy out to him.

He also mentioned the jobseeker's duration. In the programme for Government, we are committed to looking at a pay-related benefit, which will also involve an examination of the duration of the payment. I came from a credit union and saw many times that when people were laid off work unexpectedly, they suddenly took a severe drop in their income and were very concerned about how they would meet those bills. That is why we should consider the pay-related benefit and we can take learnings from the PUP payment, because it is linked to pay prior to Covid.

The cost of the means changes is the full-year cost of changes to carers, disability and fuel allowance means test of approximately €30 million. We will come back to the Deputy with a more accurate figure on that. I think I have covered off most of his questions.