Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On the amendment, we introduced FIS, which is a good system, but it is riddled with anomalies. I have pointed out a number of them on several occasions. As I pointed out on Second Stage some of these anomalies constitute a poverty trap. The amendment I tabled was ruled out of order but I will refer generally to the section. FIS is calculated as 60% of the difference between a certain threshold and the income a person earns if it is under this threshold. The threshold depends on a person's circumstances, such as how many children he or she has. The Minister is stating that if people start the year in a low income job they will qualify for a certain amount of FIS, but if they drop off the FIS system during the year for one reason or another, such as losing a job and receiving jobseeker's allowance or jobseeker's benefit or no longer working 38 hours a fortnight, and before the end of 12 months they qualify for FIS again they will be paid for the last couple of months but at the same rate as they received at the beginning of the year. This makes no sense. If people comes back into the FIS system because of returning to employment they might have a job which pays more than the job they had at the beginning of the year, in which case they may be entitled to less FIS or perhaps no FIS, but they will be paid. They might have a job which pays less than the job they had at the beginning of the year, which means they would be entitled to more FIS but they will only receive the same amount as they did at the beginning of the year, even though they now need more because they are earning less. This does not make any sense. I proposed that when people return to the FIS system FIS should be calculated on their circumstances at that time. This is eminently reasonable, but it was ruled out of order because it might constitute a charge on the Exchequer. It is equally or even more likely it would result in saving the Exchequer money.

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