Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 3, subsection (4), line 18, to delete "Section 3" and substitute "Sections 9, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 19".

The purpose of this amendment is to provide that a number of the provisions I propose by way of Committee Stage amendments come into operation by way of commencement order. In addition, arising from the Committee Stage amendment which I propose to introduce, section 3 which provides for the phased introduction over the period from April 2013 to April 2015 of the increase in the number of contributions required to become a voluntary contributor, there is no longer a need for a commencement order for section 3.

The new sections I propose to include in this Bill by way of Committee Stage amendments that are to come into operation by way of commencement order are section 9, which relates to the operation of the Revenue's relevant tax and share options system; section 12, which relates to the entitlement of the mortgage interest supplement; section 14, which relates to the powers of social welfare inspectors to make inquiries of landlords in regard to the investigations of rent supplement claims; and section 15, which relates to the strengthening of the provisions relating to authenticating a person's identity for the purposes of making social welfare claims and for the purposes of using personal public service numbers, PPSNs, and public service cards. Deputies will be aware that the Department is in the process of beginning the rollout of a public service card to every citizen in the country which will have an encrypted photograph so that when people go to social welfare offices, their identity can be properly established as well as their signature on the card. That is another important element in making our systems more secure and robust against fraud.

I also propose to include section 16, which relates to a change in the payment week for jobseeker's benefit purposes from a six-day week to a five-day week, and section 17, which relates to the further strengthening of the powers of social welfare inspectors to make inquiries at ports and airports. As I said, we have discussed that particular provision with many Members over a long period of time and it is very important that social welfare inspectors have the power to question people coming through ports and airports who are not resident in this country but who could be coming here to claim a social welfare benefit and then leaving the country shortly thereafter. It could be Irish people who have left the country but who come back.

Equally, they could be non-Irish persons who took up residence in Ireland and subsequently left but, for some reason, continue to claim social welfare wrongly. This is an important reform.

Section 19 relates to an extension of the household budgeting facility to cover other energy companies regulated by the Commission for Energy Regulation. The purpose of these commencement orders is to give sufficient time following the Bill's enactment for the necessary administrative procedures to be put in place before these provisions are commenced. I recommend the amendment be made.

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