Jimmy Devins (Sligo-North Leitrim, Independent)

I thank the Acting Chairman and the Ceann Comhairle for allowing this motion on the Adjournment tonight. I welcome the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Ó Cuív, and thank him for attending. We live in times of great financial difficulty. At the moment every citizen of our country is suffering from reduced income, in some cases, much reduced income. The Government is to be commended on taking the corrective action needed to stabilise the national finances, painful and all as it is. Among the people who have suffered are the recipients of social welfare who have seen a dramatic reduction in their payments. In the light of the reduced money available to Government, it is essential that those who are genuinely in need of social protection receive it. We must do all in our power to ensure they are protected from further cuts.

In that context, any abuse of social welfare payments must be eradicated. In recent months I have become aware of anecdotal evidence of false

claims made by some people on social welfare. That evidence has become stronger recently. I pay tribute to the citizens who have brought that to my attention, some of whom are themselves social welfare recipients.

A recent letter in the Irish Independent on 24 April summed up in a succinct way the point I am making. It asked how a non-national living and working in Norway for the past three years can still receive €600 per month jobseeker's allowance from the State. I suggest that the following measures, if implemented, would save a considerable amount of money, which then could be used to protect the genuine recipients of social welfare payments. We must examine the possibility of ceasing the payment of unemployment benefit-jobseeker's allowance into bank accounts. The money should be collected by the recipient presenting himself or herself in person at the post office. If that is not feasible and the money continues to be paid into a bank account, it should be collected personally in the bank. Those measures would prevent a serious abuse of the payment system.

We could also introduce a change in the practice of giving one month's notice of signing on. That could be reduced to one week's notice. Thus, if someone is out of the country, he or she would not be able to obtain a cheap flight to return to the country to collect the money, thereby making it uneconomic for him or her to claim the allowance while abroad.

The Minister is innovative. I urge him to devise schemes whereby worthwhile community work could be done by those who are able to work but who through no fault of their own are unemployed. Such people want to work. In his previous Ministry the Minister initiated many very good schemes, such as the rural social scheme, which were and still are highly regarded by those who partook in them. Asimilar scheme in this area would be very welcome. There exists a serious abuse of our social welfare system by a small minority and it is imperative that the majority of social welfare recipients who are genuinely in need of social welfare support are supported.

See this speech in context