Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Some Deputies have proposed that PRSI for employers and employees should be increased. In the context of Deputy O'Dea's amendment relates to the broadening of the PRSI base, which is what is set out in section 3. The measure in section 3 is a result of the demographic changes to which I have just referred and which, happily, mean that there are pensioners and that retired people are living longer. Outside anything else which might affect the finances of the Department, the annual pressure resulting from these changes - in monetary terms - is approximately €190 million. I am obliged to provide the latter from tight existing resources. In the context of Deputy O'Dea's proposal, the base-broadening measures are being brought forward because the Social Insurance Fund - which is the cornerstone of our social insurance system - has a deficit. That deficit was well over €1 billion in each of the past two years and it will be of the same order again this year. Next year, however, as a result of the numbers of people returning to work - CSO figures show that some 33,000 more people were at work at the end of June - the deficit in the Social Insurance Fund will be in the region of €700 million to €800 million.

Some Members, including Deputy Ó Snodaigh, have proposed that the level of employer's PRSI should be increased. Others, including Deputy Grealish - who is a small business owner and employer - advocate that it should not be increased. There is a debate in this regard. Above and beyond that and as a consequence of the economic crash, however, people in this country are obliged to pay the universal social charge, USC. The latter is a charge, not a contribution. One of the debates in which we should perhaps engage in the future is whether some of the money collected via the USC should actually take the form of a contribution. The USC was introduced by the previous Government at a time of absolute crisis and it is simply being levied as a charge.

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