Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have three quick questions.

I once again flag the fact that people on the working family payment do not get fuel allowance. It is a peculiar sort of exclusion. Is that something the Department has discussed? People on the working family payment are typically those who have relatively low incomes.

I will also flag an issue that is not the Department's responsibility but it might be able to do something useful about it in correspondence or discussions with, possibly, the Department of communications, or the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan's crowd anyway. SEAI grants are available to people on most social welfare payments except those on the invalidity pension. It is a peculiar oversight. Maybe it is not an oversight and there is a policy reason for it but it does not make an awful lot of sense, to be honest. The Department might usefully raise the matter with the relevant Department. I know Department of Social Protection officials cannot do anything about it but with their expertise in tackling poverty and so on, it might be a useful intervention.

I tabled a question on a matter that was largely in response to the Green Paper, but I see Deputy Farrell also tabled a question on it. It concerns the draft proposals for a new working age payment, which are being referenced a fair bit at present. The Minister is on record as saying that draft proposals would be developed this year. At what stage within the year could we be looking at proposals for the working age payment?