Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I cannot do it. If we were to introduce a new law today, we would not be able to charge somebody under it for something they did last year. Unfortunately, that is the way it is.

On the income disregards for lone parent families, the Deputy is right that the cost of living has gone up. I would have increased it by more if we had more money. I have every intention of continuing to do so for as long as I am lucky enough to be in this role and able to look after the most vulnerable in society. We are all aware, not just from ESRI reports but also from the physical evidence of meeting people, that the most vulnerable financially in our society are those living with disabilities and lone parent families. They are the ones who need to be supported in whatever way we can support them in the next budgetary process and thereafter until they have a good quality standard of living. I can give the Deputy a guarantee that as long as I am in this seat, that will be one of my priorities.

In particular, I want to address the issue of the 120,000 children who are living in consistent poverty. Thankfully, that figure is decreasing, but it is not decreasing half fast enough.

On youth unemployment, we will be introducing a new scheme later this year for the under 26s. As it will be on a voluntary basis, no one will be made to join it. There will, however, be a large uptake, given the type of scheme that it will be. I am looking forward to launching it in the next year in the light of the response we are receiving.

I will disagree with Deputy Bríd Smith who I know will disagree with me on the issue of changing the payments. We are not asking anyone under 25 years of age to live on a lower payment than others. They have the option of returning to training, taking courses and upskilling, for example, to become carers. There are a variety of means for them to increase their payments to what they could be were they jobseekers over 26 years of age, if that is what they want. I make no apologies for not wanting people younger than 26 years to be on the dole. I want them to be working, which is why we are aggressively working via JobPath with young people who have spent more than 12 months on the live register. We are finding them jobs.