Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I share the concerns expressed by Deputy Humphreys. We are trying to recast the social welfare system to change it from a system that has been largely passive to one that becomes active. Among the key issues in the type of scenario the Deputy describes is to ensure early intervention and early access to information and knowledge about how one qualifies for a placement and to secure for the individuals in question a placement, training, work experience or educational opportunities. I note the cases raised by the Deputy probably refer to people who are married to partners who are in work. For this reason, they become dependants, as it were, when their benefit expires, even though, as the Deputy noted, they have been working for the past 20 or 25 years.

It is important to ensure an early response in such cases. We are trying to do this and have brought into the Department the former FÁS employment services which generally handle opportunities for the type of person Deputy Humphreys describes. We should be able to build up a profile and picture of what we can do to help those in this position much earlier than is the case at present. Losing one's job after 20 years is often a disaster for the individual concerned. It is difficult for persons in this position to find that, having paid into the system throughout their employment, the system does not respond to their needs. I will revert to the Deputy as we complete the review and roll out reform in the Department.

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