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

I thank the Deputy. The issue of the incentive to work in relation to tax and the social welfare system is something the Deputy has great knowledge of and keen interest in. I have met him concerning a number of suggestions he has put forward. My officials are working on those, particularly in relation to the means test. I was delighted to be able to make some changes to the means test, particularly for carers, in the last budget. It is in the programme for Government that we are committed to a universal working age payment. My officials are working on that.

I agree with the Deputy that we should have a system wherein people are incentivised to go back to work if for no other reasons than going to work is good for mental health and helps bring people out of poverty. The more we can do to get people back into work the better for our society. We have huge demand in the labour market at the minute. Pathways to Work will help us in all the different ways we have in that strategy of getting people back into the workforce and giving them the confidence to go back. For those who have been out of it for some time, it can be daunting. The Department wants to help people there.

The Deputy mentioned the first €100 of the spouse's income from employment being disregarded. The Department has committed to preparing a paper on options to modify the jobseeker's allowance payment by using Revenue real-time earnings data to adjust payment levels in line with the person's weekly earning to guarantee a basic income floor and ensure that, in all cases, a person's income increases when he or she works. We can do that and have that real-time contact with Revenue.

The Deputy mentioned the essential needs payment. The community welfare officers continue to look at the circumstances of each case. Every case is different and those officers use their discretion when making payments to people in need. They are not confined and have that discretion. We have told them to expect people to come in because they are faced with higher fuel costs and such bills. We encourage people to visit the community welfare officer if they have problems in that area. On essential needs applications, we are reviewing all the supplementary welfare allowance applications forms and trying to make them more customer-friendly, and rightly so. I thank the Deputy for his questions.