Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I will send them to the Chairman in the next couple of days.

To reply to the question on working age and the possibility of giving everyone under 25 years of age an increase to the level of the full unemployment payment made to everyone aged over 25 years, I will revert to the Deputy on the issue in the next couple of days. I beg the committee's pardon, I have the information. The cost of restoring jobseeker's benefit and jobseeker's allowance to the full rate for all recipients under 26 years of age would be €90 million in a single year.

The Deputy asked about a review. I read in the newspapers that a review of JobPath was under way, but I do not know from where that information came. Through the Intreo and JobPath offices, we work with our two contractors, Seetec and Turas Nua, very closely on a daily basis. As such, there is a constant review of the cases sent to and returned from JobPath. We have daily and weekly figures for the numbers of people who are successfully employed and retained in employment thereafter. There is also a constant review of our internal structures in the case of JobsPlus, jobs clubs, Intreo offices and controls. We regularly monitor the services we provide so as to ensure they are right for those who are looking for jobs.

The disability allowance increase is due to demographics. The large increase is not specific to Ireland. We are very much in line with all of the trends across the European Union. Thankfully, people are living longer. In many cases, they are leading healthier lives. Those who are not healthy are pressing for various supports, as reflected in some of our schemes.

The working family payment is under constant review. I want to be able to tailor it to make it more effective. We started that process last year. My predecessor, the Taoiseach, started it before I took over from him in this portfolio in June last year. I made some changes in the budget in October 2017 and I am planning to make more this year. The working family payment is under continuous review. I want to make sure it reaches the widest number of people on low and middle incomes. This is necessary not only to make sure they have a decent quality and standard of living but also to allow them to upskill and perhaps find a better job and career, as we have discussed. The report on the working family payment being prepared for the committee is due to be given to us in June. I hope to be able to come here at that stage to discuss my plans in that regard and get a buy-in and suggestions from members of the committee.

The Deputy asked me to explain why the level of control savings was on a par with that in previous years. Our ambition every year is to continue to go after people claiming payments to which they are not entitled under particular schemes. We will make sure our money is directed towards those who are entitled to receive payments under the various schemes. I do not need to explain again the control savings of €510 million. The Deputy is familiar with the multiplication factor used. The actual or real value of the savings is significantly less than €510 million. The Deputy is right when he describes the figure as a representation of what the cost to the Department of making additional payments would have been if the control savings had not been made and the payments had continued. Overpayments of €111 million were made in 2017, just €1.8 million of which resulted from departmental error. In certain cases, we paid people who should not have been paid.

The Deputy also asked about the Citizens Information Board. He is correct when he says an extra €4.357 million has been allocated this year. We were very pleased to be able to give this money to the board to pay for various things. For example, €327,000 is being provided to deliver on commitments made in legislation passed in both Houses on sign language permission, as set out in the national disability inclusion strategy. A further €650,000 is being provided for the replacement of the current wide area network infrastructure. The improvement in the telephone systems will facilitate the development of high speed broadband links between the Citizens Information Board and its 220 partner delivery services. Some €1.4 million is being provided to cover the estimated cost of external restructuring arising from the board's decision to restructure the governance arrangements and reduce the network of regional companies from 93 to 16. A further €1.98 million is being provided to meet critical staffing needs across the 42 citizens information companies, the citizens information telephone service and the 53 MABS companies. All of this adds to the total budget of €53.05 million for the Citizens Information Board.