Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The under 50s. That is all right. The Minister of State will deal with the older Members later.

Some people cannot make it into social welfare offices while others are in nursing homes. Is an arrangement in place requiring photographs to be taken in these cases? If so, where is the common sense in sending officials out with cameras to take photographs of people in their sick beds? I hope the Minister of State can tell me that is not part of the system. It sounds as bad as it sounds and I do not need to add to that.

I refer to the section dealing with statements of recoverable benefits. This concerns illness-related social welfare payments from compensation awards made to persons as a consequence of personal injuries claims, which were provided for in the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2013 and which came into effect last August. This is probably okay on the face of it. I was concerned on first reading that a compensation award would be reduced by the amount of illness benefit paid to the claimant but I am pleased that the legislation provides that the insurance company must refund the equivalent of the illness benefit payments to the Department. I was worried that this inadvertently could have led to savings for insurance companies. If that was the case, I would have sought a corresponding deduction in insurance premia. However, following a more detailed reading, it appears where a policy is in place, social welfare payments made by the State can be recovered from those companies. It is sensible to integrate the social welfare payment entitlements in the same way the State pension and private pensions are integrated when people retire. Most people receive 50% or two thirds of their pension, depending on whether it is defined benefit or defined contribution. I will not go into that debate but a pension is normally linked to a percentage of their salary minus the State pension, to which they are also entitled. That is not covered in insurance policies and, therefore, people could receive a higher pension. It makes sense to address this. If it is a question of sensible integration of the insurance awards and the Department making sure the State is not out of pocket, I agree with it.

Initially, the legislation was intended primarily to deal with the back to work family dividend but it has become catch all legislation. Having examined it in detail, it will tidy up a number of issues. An amendment will be made to the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 to ensure the dividend is not taxable, which is good. However, will the back to work dividend be considered as means for SUSI grants, medical card, social housing and rent supplement scheme applications? If so, we have a problem. If a person applies for rent supplement and he or she is in receipt of the back to work dividend, will it be considered to be means? The Minster of State might clarify this. The note from the Department states: "In the case of the exemption of income received by way of student grants, the current legislative basis for such grants is being updated in the light of the provisions of the Student Support Act 2011". That means there is an issue to be addressed and that may be done under the student support legislation. However, I would be worried that a mechanism will creep in under which the back to work dividend could prevent the sons or daughters of claimants going to a third level college because they would be ineligible for a SUSI grant. I doubt that is the intention behind the dividend but if it is, the Minister will have to amend this provision quickly. Will the Minister of State clarify that during the debate?

I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute. I am not happy with the legislation and generally with how the Minister has handled the Department. We will, therefore, vote against her proposals.

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