Willie Penrose (Westmeath, Labour)

I thank the Minister for his reply and for taking up the Labour Party suggestion to advertise the scheme. Since the Revenue is virtually in everyone's house now, would it be simpler if it submitted the detailed information to each taxpayer, since clearly someone must be earning income to qualify for family income supplement?

Maev-Ann Wren recently wrote an excellent article in the Irish Independent, of which the Minister should get a copy. Is it true that one would want to be Einstein to fill in the form for the family income supplement and that it contains 12 or 14 pages of dross and nonsense? One should not ask applicants whether they eat wheaten or white bread. That is a load of nonsense. The biggest impediment is the superfluity of the information being sought. The article also notes that many people do not like traipsing to their employers to get them to sign for the four weeks' work or whatever. It is almost a signal to them to depress their income further. Many people like the privacy of their own information. If they provide their weekly income figure, that should be accepted. Under the Payment and Wages Act, is a payslip given by an employer a legal document and should that be sufficient? One would then not have to go to a nosey employer who knows his or her employee's business. Let us cut out the nonsense and stop the charade. Let us ensure people get what they are entitled to.

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