Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Budget 2015 provided for a number of welcome initiatives, including tax cuts, an increase in the USC threshold and increases in child benefit and the living alone allowance, which were the first steps in putting money back in people's pockets with an intention to do the same in budget 2016. The back-to-work family dividend scheme is a positive development and I welcome the publication of the legislation to put that in train. The Department has changed from a State body that only makes welfare payments to one that incentivises putting people back to work over the past years. The dividend will incentivise work and it acknowledges that the transition to work is not always easy. There are added costs relating to child care, transport and so on. The dividend also acknowledges that those in receipt of social protection payments need a little extra to help them on returning to work.

The Government has a strong record of supporting job creation with 90,000 new jobs created under its watch. It has set an ambitious target for this year and there have been positive jobs announcements in many sectors in recent weeks. The plan is to provide 40,000 new jobs this year. Last year the unemployment rate was 12% but it fell to 10.1% today. When we entered office, the rate was 15% and while it is still too high, it is going in the right direction. The Department's new role in assisting jobseekers to get back to work and supporting those who are able to work to get work is welcome.

The back-to-work dividend scheme will enable people to retain the child-related portion of their social welfare payment for up to two years and it will be available to recipients of a number of social welfare schemes, including jobseeker's benefit, jobseeker's allowance, transitional jobseeker's allowance and the one-parent family payment. People on community training schemes such as RSS, Tús or Gateway will also be facilitated under this scheme. I support the comments of Deputy Paul Connaughton in this regard.

To qualify for the payment, claimants must be aged under 66, have qualified children and be habitually resident in the State. Such recipients must have been receiving payment for at least 12 months in total, and at least six months in the previous year, before claiming the dividend. The time spent on education, training and supported employment will also qualify towards satisfying the 12 month requirement. The dividend will be payable for two years as long as the claimant is not in receipt of another payment. It will be paid at a standard weekly rate of €29.80 per child, subject to a maximum payment overall ceiling of €119 and the scheme will be in place until 2021.

The authentication of identity when presenting for payment is another initiative under the legislation. Social welfare fraud may be exaggerated but those who pay tax and contribute to society want to know their taxes are being spent properly and correctly and that only those who are eligible for payments receive them.

Of course that is the case in the vast majority of cases. This strengthens the legislative provisions relating to the identification of a person who presents at a post office for a social welfare payment. These requirements are in line with the relevant procedures that have been arranged between An Post and the Department of Social Protection for those who present at a post office on behalf of themselves, those who present on behalf of another person, those who have permission to do so, those who are appointed on behalf of a registered medical practitioner and those who are unable to manage their own financial affairs.

Section 8 relates to the repayment of amounts due where fraud is committed. I would like to highlight the distinction between those who purposely go out to defraud the State and those who fail to disclose something they should have disclosed. I have come across a number of cases in which Department of Social Protection inspections have led to somebody being presented with a bill asking them to repay some moneys on the basis that they failed to disclose money or property they inherited a number of years ago. I think a distinction needs to be made between people who have failed to disclose something and people who have shown an intent to defraud the State. I welcome the initiatives that have been taken in this legislation. I wish the Tánaiste well with the passage of the Bill.

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