Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I, too, welcome our guests. A couple of weeks ago, I was chairing while a Private Members’ Bill was being considered in the Seanad. I believe Mr. Hession was present on the day with the Minister. The Minister was quite clear that nobody would lose their payment. Indeed, Mr. Hession said in the opening statement this morning that the Department does not wish to cause any anxiety or stress among its customers. To take up the point made by the previous two speakers, many feel undervalued at present and it is causing them stress. I am referring to a Green Paper that may or may not affect their disability payments. Taking the bona fides of the Minister will still cause stress among people who feel undervalued. It is very important that we have meetings like this. As I said in the Seanad on the day in question, it is important to have the maximum amount of public consultation. Mr. Hession might tell us again the levels of public consultation and engagement to date. I realise some of the engagements have not happened yet.

I have a couple of questions, the first being on the invalidity pension.

Mr. Hession mentioned in his opening statement that it can either be done on a contributory basis or via a means test. My understanding is that there is no means test for invalidity pension. How and at what level will the means test come in? If somebody is currently on an invalidity pension through their contributions, will they now be assessed by a means test as well? Will it still be on the contributory basis? I need clarification on this because I get queries on this through my office, and I am sure colleagues get the same queries from constituents.

On the disability allowance, Deputy Ó Cuív was quite clear about the assessments or the Intreos as some people call them. I have an issue with this. Who will provide "appropriate employment supports and services"? Who will the Department engage? Will it be outsourced? Deputy Ó Cuív identified a problem with this for those who may not actually be seeking work. When they go to one of those offices, it seems they are put under pressure to take up employment or to go on courses. That is my interpretation of the situation as well as what I have been told. As I said at this committee before, I have had to fill out disability allowance application forms for those people because of the stress they were put under when they went to those meetings. I would like to hear what the Department's plans are for those appropriate employment supports and services.

This is something I have long called for, so I welcome the fact the domiciliary care allowance, DCA, is being extended to 18 years of age. When people on the allowance at age 16 were coming into our offices to fill out the forms for the DA, it was stressful for many families. I take on board what Deputy Ó Cuív said regarding the amount of money, but if the payment of €330 per month is going to continue, that is something most families would accept. It is important to say that most families need the money. The period from 16 years to 18 years can be a difficult one for those who qualify.

Can we confirm that there are 32 full-time doctors working over 15 schemes in the system? This is very useful information for the committee.

Various questions have been asked about the medical assessment. What are the guidelines being considered regarding assessments? Will it be similar to a disability allowance assessment? What will the medical assessment be for a person to be classified as tier 3?

Correct me if I am wrong on this but at present people on disability allowance can earn up to €165 per week without it affecting their allowance. Obviously, that goes up to €375 with a 50% reduction on that. Is there an limit for people on tier 3 or tier 1, whichever one it is, in terms of their ability to earn additional money or will there be a cap, as there currently is for disability allowance?