Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Department’s approach, my approach and that of my predecessor to the working family payment is guided by two principles: first, that we have to ensure that work pays and that it is worthwhile for people to go out to work, and, second, that it should have a positive impact on reducing child poverty in the country, which is still far too high. This is of particular importance to me. To advance the commitment contained in the programme for Government, the Department established the working group and an interdepartmental group comprising relevant Departments. We carried out an extensive analysis of the existing range of supports, which demonstrated to us that many in-work supports are effective and work well in assisting families and individuals make the transition from unemployment into employment. These findings were confirmed to us by the ESRI.

It is not for me as simple as changing the name from FIS to working family payment. I am proposing to put FIS under the umbrella of working family payments because we are not done in this regard. There are certainly more enhancements that we will plan and which I will endeavour to bring forward in the future to make sure that people who are either in lower paid jobs or are currently dependent on the social welfare system have the necessary supports under the working family payments scheme, which we will be adding to in the future. This will ensure they understand, appreciate and accept it is far more valuable for them to work than it is to be entirely dependent on the State. Therefore, it is not just a change of the name, although it might have looked like that in the budget. New measures will be introduced under that scheme in the future.

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