John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A theme that runs through various debates in the House is that of reform. It is constantly mentioned as being of necessity in order to deal with issues that have arisen or to improve things, no more so than during this afternoon's debate about the disclosures tribunal. As regards that issue, truth should be examined and guide us. The suppression of truth has us where we are in that regard.

The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection is an example to other Departments in terms of the reform they need. If one tables a question or asks a question of officials in the Department one gets helpful answers. In addition, people are never transferred to different payments by the Department if those they are on give them the greatest amount of benefit. That has always been the case and long may it continue.

In terms of the general output of the Department, one of the greatest difficulties is the length of time people have to wait while their applications are being processed. That is particularly so in regard to carer's allowance, whereby one puts in an application and it seems to be dealt with in an unusually lengthy process. It would be helpful if there were some way to shorten the process while also examining all aspects of the application.

Domiciliary care allowance is another issue that needs to be dealt with. For many years there was a group based in Carlow that represented a number of people nationwide who had applied for domiciliary care allowance. It was known as the DCA Warriors and did battle with the Department to try to promote a better way of understanding domiciliary care allowance and dealing with applications. I will always remember looking at the application form for domiciliary care allowance in the United Kingdom. It is far simpler than that used here and an applicant knows exactly what is required and what circumstances need to be explained.

I regularly meet constituents who are very upset that they have been refused despite all the professional opinion they have included with their applications. They are missing the point about setting out what has to be done over and above what one would do in respect, for example, of another child of the same age as the one being cared for. This could be overcome by a simple reform to the way in which the application form is structured and the type of information requested from the applicant.

Debt collection is a regular topic at the Committee of Public Accounts. It led the Taoiseach into a bit of bother when he tried to explain it. We must get back to basics. It is the amount of debt incurred by someone who has, through error or fraud, taken money from the Department. If the Department stuck to that figure, it would be easily understandable. No one would get into trouble and everyone would know exactly how much was taken from the State. The Department should not introduce some other complex measurement of what might have been forgone to the State should something have happened. It is actual money about which we should be talking. If the position were tightened up in the context of the real fraud undertaken against the Department, the latter would have a significant amount of money. Fraud, by its very nature, is not easy to tie down. However, there are examples of fraud being detected and the same kind of method used to defraud the Department being in operation in other parts of the country. Resolving this would perhaps ensure more money for those in receipt of social welfare, particularly the elderly, and I ask the Minister to examine this.

I have come across many cases recently of the elderly seemingly being targeted, which concerns me. I am talking about a generation of people who have lived a very frugal existence. As a result of the fact that they saved up their pension payments over the years, they did not declare having done so. This is part of what they saved and now, because they have these savings, which may be significant because many of them lived frugally, they are putting themselves outside of the means test at various points. The Department is now reclaiming that money, needless to say, in respect of the periods for which they were not qualified under a means test. We must be a little more sympathetic in such cases. This generation made efforts to save money and at times did not live very well. They wanted to save for their children, and now that money is being taken back from them. It is not that they deliberately misled the Department; they were planning for the next generation, and we should be sympathetic to those people.

Some PPS numbers were issued in error. There are other cases in which the wife of someone who has been working requires a PPS number and it has taken a considerable length of time to issue. I have had to seek a PPS number in the past few weeks for my wife, who worked. The PPS number was apparently incorrect and now it will take five or six weeks to get the correct one. A number of such cases are in the system, and efforts should be made to clear the backlog if indeed there is one.

I was self-employed for most of my life. We must bring about some imaginative scheme that will bring the self-employed into some form of cover. It was particularly evident during the crash that people who were self-employed as plasterers, carpenters and so on ended up with nothing and then had no social welfare supports. There is a need to introduce a scheme which, even if voluntary, would provide the range of supports that are necessary when someone hits such a wall. I came across a case recently of the breadwinner in a house - the father - becoming quite ill. The hoops that must be jumped through to get one's paperwork correct in order to get some form of payment is a little too much in certain circumstances. The circumstances of the individual should be determined in a far more efficient way when those circumstances concern medical issues, even though this will take some effort on the side of the social welfare official to determine the case. Taken nationally, I am sure there are many such cases, but these are just minor adjustments. They do not cost the State a fortune, and through savings within the Department over the years, something can be done for them.

Finally, I wish to highlight the issue of rural crime and people, elderly individuals in particular, living alone. I know that alarm systems are in place but we need to expand the system we have into an organised one with a service provider to take in the greater number of people affected and ensure that those who live alone are covered and feel secure in their own homes. This could be direct contact with a neighbour or a police station. There is a need to support those who organise such alarms much more extensively. The principle and the basic supports are there but, because we now live in a very changing country, particularly in rural Ireland, there is a need to examine these schemes and have them dealt with in a way that is satisfactory for those who are in difficulty.

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