John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate and I welcome the number of provisions in the Bill which adjust anomalies which have been there for a very long time that discriminated against certain categories of people and individuals. The self-employed and retained part-time firefighters come to mind in that respect. Firefighters perform a very important role in local communities on a part-time basis and they often put their lives at risk while providing service in addition to full-time employment if they are lucky to have it. A discrepancy existed in that if firefighters became unemployed, they could be denied jobseeker's allowance or have to get it on a appeal. It was an unfair process and I compliment the Minister on adjusting it. This process was first implemented in 1972, when it was decided that the days for firefighting or training would be disregarded in determining an entitlement to jobseeker's benefit. It took a long time but I compliment the Minister on making the change.

Another change means that all social welfare recipients will get a photo identification card. People may argue that this could be intrusive but it will allow payments to be made to people who are entitled to them, which is what everybody should want. People who fall on difficult times should receive payments but people should not succeed in making fraudulent claims. I know the Minister has made much progress in recent years on the issue but this Bill will make further and better progress easier, allowing money to go to where it is deserved.

There are many areas where I would like the Minister to be able to use funding, such as the farm assist scheme. Adjustments were made in the last budget and perhaps with some of the provisions going through in this Bill, we will be able to look at the matter again. There are 1,800 recipients of farm assist funding in my county and many have had it cut. If these people are not in the farm assist scheme, they are not entitled to be in the rural social scheme, and that has major implications that may not be evident for people in receipt of family income supplement. If there is a more targeted approach to cutting fraud, we may be able to consider that issue again in the near future.

With regard to the use of photo identification and signatures, one can see in the free travel scheme how measures can be abused. I know many elderly people and disabled people who are fearful that the free travel scheme will be readjusted because of its inherent costs. People who use the scheme fraudulently are putting at risk those for whom the scheme is meant. It is a wonderful measure for senior citizens and disabled people, and it contributes to the economy because many such people in the winter may use free travel to stay overnight in hotels and guest houses. It provides a cushion against social isolation and any change caused by abuse of the system would be terrible. The move to the use of photo identification is positive as it is a way of targeting payments and giving help where it is deserved rather than catching out people.

As other speakers have indicated, the Bill also introduces measures to allow for the transition from lone parent to jobseeker's allowance when a person no longer qualifies for a single parent family payment due to a child reaching specified age thresholds. This part of the Bill allows for flexibility and deals with a scenario in which many lone parents find themselves. It is consumer-friendly, which is good.

The Bill is also addressing the plight of the self-employed, broadening the PRSI base to allow them to pay into a scheme that will give them extra entitlements. It is a terrible pity that was not done ten years ago by the previous Fianna Fáil Government during the construction boom as all of us were in halls in our constituencies filled with people who had employed other people, paid taxes and boosted their local economy only for their businesses to crash, many of them in the construction area. They were not entitled to anything as a result and the Bill will address that concern. It is a pity this has not been in place for the past four or five years in particular, but I compliment the Minister on facing up to the issue.

I welcome the provisions I mentioned, although I do not have time to get into some others. I am very supportive of the Bill.

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