Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I said previously as a former social protection spokesperson in this House that the schemes we run through the Department are all funded through the Social Insurance Fund, which was established in 1954 and which is predicated on the view that people who make contributions rightly expect, when they are in difficulty, the benefits of those schemes. If one looks at the current expenditure in this area, we are talking about roughly €20 billion, as budgeted for next year. The total package of adjustments in this area is €290 million, which is approximately 1.5% of the total reduction. Given the scale of the adjustment made by the previous Government and by this one since 2008, I accept this is a very difficult issue, especially at a time when this country has been hit by an economic tsunami. Many people depend on these benefits but there is now such a liability on the Social Insurance Fund. The only way we will see that fund return to surplus in the time ahead is to ensure we get people back to work, which is exactly what we are doing in the measures set out in this Bill and in the other one, and also to ensure the contributions are such to allow us to fulfil those obligations.

In regard to the proposal colleagues have put forward in terms of a report on this, there is nothing new about that amendment. Such a proposal has been made before. To help colleagues who may not have dealt with social welfare legislation in the past, this Bill is basically consolidation legislation. Effectively, it is an administrative scheme year in, year out built on the changes made and what we can afford in the budget. It is important to understand that an allocation must be made in terms of how much we can afford, given the circumstances and the economic crisis we face, and how much has to come out of this. It is consolidation legislation. The measures we have introduced are broadly based and fair. We have also got the balance right.

I do not buy this nonsensical argument, which some purport to make on my behalf and that of others, that people opt for social welfare over work. I do not believe that is the case at all. The majority of people want to work and the measures we have brought forward in this Bill and elsewhere in this budget will do that.

In case there is any disagreement between myself and Deputy Shortall, who seems to be unaware of the measures in this and the other Bill about the opportunities for people, in particular those up to 25 and 26 years of age, the key issue is to say to people that proper training and proper courses, where there are real jobs at the end of them, need to be put in place. That is why the JobBridge scheme has been successful and why we want to extend that.

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