Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There are differing views on the budget, but its biggest failure was that there was no attempt to address areas in society such as health, education and housing that clearly were broken. Spreading a few euro here and there does not address them. The same applies to the Social Welfare Bill which we are discussing. Budget 2017 failed to tackle poverty and the inequalities throughout society. It failed to bring about fairness and address in a meaningful way those trapped in poverty. While some elements of the Bill are welcome, in its present form, it does not do anything to address the inequalities inherent in society. That is the big weakness of the Bill. The budget further marginalised young people, lone parents and those who lived alone and had no vision to move people from being dependent on social welfare payments towards education or meaningful jobs.

Older people living alone are among the most vulnerable in society and many of them rely on the State pension. They face unique pressures because of their limited incomes. For instance, increased prescription charges are a huge burden, yet the Government and Fianna Fáil seem to think a simple pension increase of €5 per week will resolve the difficulties they face. These are the people who, in many cases, worked all their lives to bring about and support the society we have today.

The Bill fails to address the significant inconsistencies in the pension system. In Ireland there is a 35% gender pension gap. There is something wrong with the system and it is not solely the result of different wage levels. There was a marriage bar that affected women. There are also those who were involved in child rearing or took a caring role in the home. This impacts on many of those who attend my advice centre. Other changes introduced by the previous Government and the then Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, a Labour Party Minister, are also having a negative impact on those applying for pensions. A person was able to receive a pension when he or she had 260 contributions, but now 520 are required. A caller to my advice centre told me that she had started work at 13 years of age and worked until pension age, but there were gaps in her employment history. Some of these gaps were used to rear children and look after someone at home, but they now mean that she is being told she is not entitled to a full contributory pension. Then there are those who started work much later in their lives. They may have stayed at school for longer. Their work history is minuscule compared to that of others, yet they are in receipt of a higher pension payment. The argument is made that this is to protect the State, but the system is inherently wrong and unfair.

As Deputies, we are all aware that there is an added difficulty for those who reach 65 years of age. In many cases, for contractual reasons, they have to retire at 65 years of age, but they must be 66 to receive the pension. For the first time in their lives, many of them are being forced to sign on for a year. Anyone who has advocated for senior citizens has argued that the system needs to change and that we should not be forcing the people concerned into community employment schemes or onto the dole. It is undignified for those who have worked all their lives to be pressurised into doing this. There has been no attempt to address this difficulty.

Fuel poverty is a serious problem faced by the country. I am acutely aware, as we go through a considerable cold spell, that 28% of households throughout the State experience fuel poverty. Ireland has one of the highest levels of excess winter mortality in Europe. People in this country are dying from the cold, yet there was no attempt in the budget to address the problem. People are freezing to death in their homes in the 21st century. We are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Rising, yet some citizens are dying from the cold and budget 2017 did not attempt to address the problem.

Budgets are about choices and the Government had fairer options. In its alternative budget Sinn Féin proposed an older persons' package which would have been worth more than €410 million and provided for a three week extension to the fuel allowance scheme, a €9.50 increase in the living alone allowance and the reinstatement of the transitional pension for those aged 65 years of age, as well as further measures to address the inconsistencies within the pension system. People only become aware of the difficulties when they apply for their entitlements. The Government should amend the Bill because the House needs to address the huge difficulties which are being experienced every day.

Constituents have to wait staggering lengths of time for benefit claims to be processed. One constituent had to wait more than eight months to be awarded carer's allowance. She needed to give up work to look after her father who had bowel cancer and she faced severe financial difficulties as a result of the long delay. Another caller to my office had waited more than six months for a non-contributory pension claim to be assessed. A reply to a freedom of information request I had submitted stated the average waiting time for a carer's allowance claim to be processed was 40 weeks. That is totally unacceptable. The reply also stated the overall waiting times for other benefits included 27 weeks for a non-contributory State pension claim to be processed and 21 weeks for an invalidity pension claim to be assessed. At a time when people are most in need and may be drained emotionally and, in many cases, financially, the State is failing them by their having to wait unreasonable lengths of time to receive their entitlements. I call on the Minister for Social Protection to instigate an investigation into the unacceptable delays and to increase resources in order that claims can be dealt with more efficiently and within a more acceptable timeframe.

Waiting times for some carer's allowance applications are scandalous and unacceptable. Something needs to be done to address the problem and this will require more resources. The Bill does not address the difficulties many of those in receipt of social welfare payments face. In addition, there are no pathways available to those who are trying to access the system.

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