Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

A key objective of my Department is to ensure that the range and level of social security coverage is appropriate to the social and economic circumstances of different groups, including women, and that the services for which people are eligible are readily accessible and delivered in an efficient, effective and integrated way.

There has been a significant increase in the level of social protection available to and being accessed by the female population over the past 20 years. Improvements in the comprehensiveness of social welfare schemes, including an increased recognition of the importance of caring through the homemakers schemes and carers payments points to an ongoing commitment to women in recognising the value of their work outside the formal labour force.

The Government is committed to supporting carers and this is demonstrated by the significant budget package of over €34 million provided to improve the payment rates and respite supports for family carers. The Government has also concentrated resources for child income support on the child benefit scheme, which is normally paid directly to the mother. Child benefit is neutral vis-À-vis employment status and income levels of parents and therefore does not distort parental choice in respect of labour force participation.

Over the period since 1997, the value of all social welfare payments has increased in real terms. In particular, the monthly rates of child benefit have increased by 271% at the lower rate and 258% at the higher rate, compared with inflation of 30.6%. This level of increase is unprecedented and delivers on the Government's objective of providing support for children generally while offering real choice to parents.

Increased participation by women in the formal economy has also led to higher levels of social protection afforded to women. The number of women at work rose by 420,000 in the period 1991-2003. In the past, the lower rates of participation in the paid labour market by women led to far lower levels of social insurance coverage for women, especially married women, than for men. By 2003, the number of single and married women in employment had more than doubled compared with 12 years earlier.

The numbers of insured persons grew from almost 1.44 million in 1990-91 to nearly 2.53 million in 2002. The general increase in coverage of the social insurance system has been accompanied by a rise in female coverage and access to benefits so that of the 1.9 million workers insured for all benefits, that is, PRSI class A contribution, almost 48% are women and more than 293,000 contributors paid PRSI as self-employed contributors in 2002, of whom almost 23% were women. The rise in coverage is also reflected in the data on benefit take-up. Of all weekly social insurance based payments, 53.9% were made to women.

A number of measures have been introduced in recent years which make it easier for people to qualify for pensions. These include extended social insurance coverage and an easing of the qualifying conditions for old age contributory and retirement pensions.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

These measures are of particular benefit to women who may have less than complete social insurance records due to working in the home.

The Government is also committed to increasing the payment for qualified adults, age 66 or over, to the same level as the personal rate of the non-contributory old age pension and a number of special increases have been given over several budgets in pursuit of this target. In addition, since October 2002, new pension claimants can opt to have the part of the payment in respect of their spouse or partner paid direct to that person.

The homemaker's scheme was introduced in 1994 to protect the pension entitlements of those who take time out of the paid workforce for caring duties. The scheme is being reviewed as part of the second phase review of the qualifying conditions for the old age contributory and retirement pensions. The review is due for completion in the next few months and developments regarding the homemaker's scheme will be considered in light of the review's conclusions.

The one-parent family payment is designed to provide income support to parents, generally women, with insufficient means who have to parent alone. One of the objectives of the one-parent family payment is to encourage and facilitate lone parents to consider employment as an alternative to welfare dependency while at the same time supporting them to remain in the home if they so wish.

Income support payments for lone parents are being reviewed in this context, particularly examining obstacles to employment for lone parents. The outcome will contribute to concrete proposals designed to better support and encourage lone parents in achieving a better standard of living, employment and education opportunities and a better future for themselves and their children.

I am also giving serious consideration to the introduction of a second tier of child income supports, aimed specifically at families in greatest need. The current national action plan against poverty and social exclusion specifically targets women as one of a number of groups who are particularly vulnerable to poverty and social exclusion, with a view to reducing or eliminating their level of risk and incidence of poverty and improving their access to services such as health care, education and employment. The Government is committed to continuing efforts to assist and support women and ensure that they have a fair share of improvements in quality of life.

See this speech in context