Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I have discussed it at length with the chief medical officers and there is a system in place. There may be a way to get the information from medical practitioners as most of the medical examinations are done from desks; the assessor does not see the person and only information is provided. Methods are being developed to bring in more information, which would make it easier to make a decision based on available medical evidence.

I do not know if Deputies have found the following to be a problem. Often people confuse the statement of the medical condition with the issue that the law requires. For example, this applies in the question of whether a person is capable of working. Stating that a person has a certain medical condition does not necessarily equate to them being incapable of work, as there are issues such as education and the type of work and so on. We must consider this system and improve it until the system is streamlined and we reduce, as far as possible, the need to appeal. Any appeals should be based on giving more information the second time around than the first.

In some cases people can be reticent about means and they must be encouraged to get bits of paper together. In rural areas there is an issue with farmers getting receipts together and so on. Quite a bit of work can be done in this regard and we will work on such issues.

Deputy Enright raised the issue of the carbon tax and a group is set to make recommendations over the summer. There appears to be some misunderstanding, although I accept the original speech could be read ambiguously. It was always the intention for the issue to take in the winter period and that is still very much on the cards.

An issue was raised about the certificate of death abroad. I recently met a delegation of people with regard to the issue in consultation with the chief registrar. There are a number of technical complications and other issues arising but we agreed a timescale. It is a long process and provisions cannot be made in this or the next Bill. It is planned to bring in a civil registration Bill at some time and Deputies can rest assured that the issue has not been parked. A process has been agreed with families on how we will consider the matter and it was a positive meeting. I was happy that there was good engagement and we agreed how to work on the issue. I understand the difficulties but there are also challenges from a legal perspective.

Deputy Costello raised an issue concerning section 23 and I confirm my intention not to proceed with the section. It involves the publication of names. The people would be brought into open court anyway and reporters can attend such courts; we have seen reporting of cases of serious fraud of the social welfare system. It is my intention to propose that the provision be deleted.

Deputy Shortall raised several interesting issues, although some were more related to tax. I heard the Deputy's comments. There are proposals to change the taxation of pensions, for example, but she raised other issues such as tax relief in pensions, employers and the overall tax pot. I would not know people in that tax position.

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