Willie Penrose (Westmeath, Labour)

I am glad of the opportunity to contribute on Second Stage of the Social Welfare Bill. I thank the Minister for Social and Family Affairs for again getting his officials to brief us on the Bill. This is innovative, a novel concept and extremely useful. We appreciate the Department's officials. They are top class and diligent as regards their presentation and very open to answering questions in that regard.

I also thank the Minister. It would be churlish of me not to acknowledge some of the increases he has given. They are along the right lines and I do not intend to be obstructive. The Minister has indicated he wants a constructive debate and I will certainly give him that. At all times the Labour Party tries to be constructive because it is closely associated with the social welfare area. I was surprised and heartened to see the Minister had taken cognisance of some of the points I made here on behalf of the Labour Party. I knew he listened, but sometimes Ministers listen but do not act. I must give the Minister some plaudits for what he has done.

One of the initiatives was very simple. Many people do not understand it, but the Minister and his learned officials certainly grasped the issue very quickly as regards the one-parent family calculation for people who take on occasional or holiday work. This used to be calculated on a weekly basis and the income disregard meant people would lose their benefits if they did occasional work of this nature. I gave the example last year of a lone parent who was getting holiday work locally with An Post, at four week intervals. Each time she had to break her claim with the Department, even though over the years the income would not have approximated to the disregard. However, it did on a per week basis and she had to break her claim. Quite fairly, the Department's officials conceded it was not cost effective since each time such a person re-entered a claim it gave rise to an administrative cost. However, the Minister has dealt with this in the course of the Bill, and I acknowledge that and applaud him for it. It shows that sometimes matters emanating from the Opposition benches are not as woolly or as far-fetched as they might seem, even when uttered from mouths such as mine. They might sound long-winded, but they have a purpose.

Likewise as regards the carers' report, I note he has extended the duration of the carer's benefits by nine months, as recommended, which is useful. I know employers will not be excited about it and he probably met some resistance from that quarter. They are having their own problems, however, so they should be happy the Minister is only extending it by nine months. He has also dealt with the number of hours a recipient of carer's benefit may work before qualifying for the respite care grant. That was particularly important. It might not sound much, but ten to 15 hours is particularly useful as the basis for a respite care grant, particularly in the farming community. The Minister is probably reaching the stretch-off point at this stage. Nonetheless, it is important to deal with the issue now, and I acknowledge and applaud that change. As the author of that report, I acknowledge he has taken cognisance of some of the points we made.

I have to speak on behalf of the Labour Party and its role in advocating various matters. The Labour Party's objective is very clear as regards any anti-poverty and equality agenda, which is, basically to ensure the benefits of rapid economic growth, high employment levels and buoyant tax revenues are used to create a fairer society. In our view, the poor and disadvantaged should benefit as much if not more than the rich from the favourable economic conditions of recent years. Unfortunately, on the basis of the previous McCreevy budgets, the Government worsened the situation for the poor while giving tax breaks and many other benefits to the rich, resulting in a very unequal society.

Despite the Minister's achievements, which we acknowledge, we still are very low down the scale as regards the proportion of national income that is devoted to social protection. During this Government's two terms in office the proportion of national income devoted to social protection has fallen. Ireland's social welfare expenditure is proportionally at the lower end of national income by comparison with other member states. The norm is for wealthy countries to spend proportionally more on social protection than the poorer ones. However, EUROSTAT 2004 data show the EU average is about 25%, with Sweden at the top, spending 31.3% of GDP. Ireland is at the bottom, spending about 15%, about 18% of GNP. With low social spending the poverty trends are not a wonder. They are highlighted in various independent reports, such as that of the CSO published yesterday and the Combat Poverty Agency, and not the Labour Party. Such reports indicate Ireland has one of the highest levels of poverty among member states.

In 2003, 22% of Irish people lived in relative poverty, compared to the EU average of about 15%. Over 900,000 adults and 240,000 children were living in poverty. Lack of investment in social protection means we have not ensured a decent standard of life for people with disabilities and carers. Women are made dependent, resulting in a high risk of poverty in old age. Lone parents are trapped in long-term poverty. This means many people are unable to reach their full potential and that is very important. The Labour Party has a vision for a fairer society. We want the social security system to be more than just a way of making weekly payments. We want to use it creatively to encourage and enable full social and economic participation. The fair society is about the expansion of real freedoms that people have a right to enjoy. It is based on the premise that every one of us is born with immense talents, gifts and possibilities, and a successful country is one that allows people to unlock that potential and make the most of that which is within them to achieve. Achievement can come in every shape and form and in every field of human endeavour and it should know no boundary of birth or background.

The Labour Party social welfare policy is guided by the challenge of reducing poverty, increasing labour market participation for all who can potentially engage in paid work, enabling maximum personal choice and freedom and encouraging and enabling self-reliance. In promoting a high level of labour market participation, the Labour Party is highly conscious of the need to balance gender equality and the objective of increasing women's labour market participation with the need to manage the impact on the traditional patterns of care for children, older people, people with disabilities and those who are ill. Particular attention must be paid to the ways in which social security impacts on women and family choices and an effort must be made to recognise and facilitate the reality of care and family lives and the real choices that families make over their lifetime. We want to ensure that social security enables people to make positive life choices, particularly that it supports family formation while recognising the diversity in family life in 21st century Ireland.

One good example of the changes needed to implement our vision can be found in the way in which women are treated by the current inequitable social welfare system. Gender equality requires that women should have equal access to income and employment to men. The facilitation of women's participation in employment is also a key policy to alleviate child poverty. This is particularly acute when applied to lone parents who have one of the highest poverty risks of any household type in the country — this was confirmed in yesterday's report and was alluded to by the Minister. Their experience of poverty is related not only to the low rate of one-parent family income payments, which is now €185.10, below the 40% poverty line, but also to the relatively low rate of employment for lone parents.

One of the problems I see in the social welfare code — I have spoken out about it, for which some people have criticised me — is that it is based on the model of the male breadwinner, and that is a concern. The man generally claims social welfare for the family, including a payment for an adult dependant equivalent to 70% of the full adult rate. A total of 98% of such qualified adults are women, which translates to approximately 130,000 women. These women are not only denied independent access to their social welfare entitlements but they are also invisible in the labour market. I think the Minister will be sympathetic to my argument. In the case of lone parents, the male breadwinner model can mean losing their independent income if they form a stable relationship or if they cohabit with a partner of their choice.

The limitation rule prohibits a family from claiming two unemployment assistance payments even where they both satisfy the criteria for the payment. This means it is not worthwhile for women to sign on and register as unemployed. It leaves them poorer because up to 1 January they lose approximately €50 a week. It also means that the qualified adult is not directly eligible for many labour market, FÁS or education programmes. A couple can swap their eligibility but this still means that only one adult can access programmes to help them into work. It is a bizarre restriction in an era of labour market shortages, it is back to the old times. This rule should be shaken up at this stage. For women who secure employment, the assessment of earnings that applies for qualified adults is extremely complex and the current income thresholds have the effect of trapping women in low paid work.

Many lone parents report that the regulations stopping them cohabiting are a lifestyle restriction. They value the independent income which their social welfare payment provides and are reluctant to become dependent on a partner for economic activity. The limitation rule not only denies women an individual social welfare payment and independent income, it militates against women finding labour market support and help for getting back to work. It prevents many of the 80,000 lone parents reliant on social welfare from making positive choices to cohabit or marry a partner of their choice.

The Minister's proposed changes are probably straightforward to right the current unfair situation and would probably be easy to implement. The Minister's former colleague, former Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy, rushed on with individualisation. I thought this was a mad idea but he got his way. There is no rush for individualisation in social welfare. If the Government wishes to be consistent, there must be administrative individualisation of the social welfare system to allow women direct access to their social welfare entitlements and to an independent income. The limitation rule must be abolished for reasons of financial equity and to eliminate the relationship trap for many lone parents.

What I have said may well be of help to the Minister with a problem he will encounter next year. I acknowledge he took my advice on the one-parent family regarding the seasonal nature of the employment which some lone parents might secure. I ask him not to disregard my advice because I have given it some thought. I am aware of the legal ramifications and that we do not wish to disadvantage the formal family situation vis-À-vis the lone parent or one-parent family. My suggestion does not leave anybody at a disadvantage nor does it leave anybody open to legal challenge, which is what the Minister must take into account. I acknowledge and salute the Minister for paying attention. I ask him to take note of my argument and I do not mean to sound big-headed when I say that my advice might be of some help to him.

Child poverty is a big issue and was a central point in the Combat Poverty Agency report and representation. The Minister has increased child benefit and achieved the target so I will not be churlish. I acknowledge the Minister has a mind to merge the FIS and child dependant allowance payments but the child dependant allowance is the only payment that is targeted for children. Nothing has been done with it since 1994 but it is a crucial element of tackling poverty. The Minister should address this issue because it goes across the whole panoply of social welfare and assistance payments. Ordinary people as well as politicians and organisations are speaking about this issue. My colleague in Mullingar, Michael Dollard, is fairly expert in social welfare matters and he reports that this issue is a recurring theme among the public who feel let down at a time when the country has the resources. This is often the one definitive way of ensuring that moneys are addressed to children and I think it was missed out on.

I acknowledge our efforts to reinstate the communal fuel allowance which has been addressed by the Minister. It will return in January 2006 and I thank the Minister for listening to our questions posed at Question Time. If I want to be bleating, the €5 a week is welcome but there have been 25% increases in fuel charges such as ESB and gas. I refer to the old bags of coal which we used to throw on our backs, not those little bags which we called the poreen bags that can be carried with two fingers. If a person came out of our bog years ago with one of them, they would be hunted back into it; a person would need to come out with a 16 stone sack. I refer to a proper bag of coal weighing eight stone, worth €16 or €17.

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