Tom Barry (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the motion and I thank Deputy Maureen O’Sullivan for tabling it. The issue is important and I accept we all have a responsibility to look at the social impact of decisions reached. Politicians have a responsibility to lead but also to try to bring people with them. It does not mean people will always agree with policy but I like to think the decisions we reach are intended to benefit society as broadly and equally as possible.

The Department of Social Protection has done a very good job in challenging times. Many people called for a cut to headline rates of social welfare but we did not do that. Many found themselves in need of social protection because they lost jobs through no fault of their own. The economic meltdown from which we are finally recovering is something we do not wish to revisit. To give back €1 billion in the budget, as we did, would have been almost unthinkable a few years ago. Other Deputies referred to the increase in child benefit payments, the back to work allowance, the family dividend and the living alone allowance. All of those things are important.

I accept there has been much criticism of JobBridge, but it is important for people to get experience. I would like the JobBridge programme to be expanded to allow employers to contribute an additional €50 or €100 to the employee and bring the earnings closer to a living wage. The proposal was not accepted. However, I hope the Minister will re-examine the proposal because it is important to give young people a chance to gain experience in a work environment, especially an SME environment where one has to be hands-on.

The fall in the unemployment rate to 10.9% is very important. It signals to people that we are moving in the right direction. When the full impact of the budget is evident, a couple with two children who earn €59,000 will find they gain almost €600 a year. It is important that people see an impact in terms of the money in their pocket. Everyone has contributed to the recovery by cutting their cloth to suit their measure. It has been a very difficult time and it is important to see a return now.

I wish to mention also the JobsPlus scheme. It is important to give an employer a subsidy of €10,000 to employ someone. Many social issues will be addressed by virtue of people being in work but the jobs must be credible. I hope the scheme will be continued for a number of years. We must concentrate more on such schemes.

The Department of Social Protection will publish a social impact assessment on budget 2015 using an ESRI switch model. It will be interesting to see the results. The social housing strategy has been published. A total of 35,000 new social housing units will be provided at a cost of €3.8 billion over the next six years. In addition, 29,000 construction jobs will be provided, which is important, as people involved in the industry have suffered greatly. I also welcome the investment in Irish Water of €500 million each year for ten years. Currently, more than 1.9 million are at work. Our target should be to have in excess of 2 million in work. Tonight’s debate will focus our minds. While the headlines figures are important, we cannot take our eye off the social impacts of decisions.

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