Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

We all agree with the concept of FIS. However, the scheme is just not working at present. The Minister could do worse than making the reform of FIS his first priority in his new role. At the moment there is a serious problem with the incentive to work for families, especially those with young children given that the early child care supplement has been halved. The Minister talked about FIS being increased. While it has been increased, that was only done to compensate for the cuts in child benefit; there has been no net increase. The Minister's priority should be that as far as possible individuals and families are facilitated in moving from welfare to work. Does the Minister accept that he should make the reform of family income supplement a priority?

FIS has numerous problems. The way the self-employed are treated is ridiculous. It makes no sense that self-employed people are excluded. The 19-hour rule makes no sense and represents a disincentive for people to work. There is no allowance for typical family costs as applies with eligibility for a medical card, including the cost of child care and the cost of participating in work, such as transport and so on. In addition, there are very strict regulations in regard to the length of time the job must be available. All of these issues are placing barriers in the way of people who want to work. Will the Minister make it a priority to ensure that those barriers are removed and, as it operates in an archaic way at present, that FIS is modernised and made fit for purpose for current issues in order to assist as many people as possible to move from welfare to work?

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