Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Social Welfare Bill 2017 and the measures the Minister is introducing. I have a few small issues which, like everything to do with social welfare, have a big impact on people's lives. I echo what Deputy Moynihan said about the invalidity pension. I welcome it as very good news. I thank the Minister for bringing it in. Everybody wanted to do it and I congratulate this Minister on being the one to do it.

Deputy has mentioned some people who will miss out. There are others who became sick in recent years, who are still out of work and who have full stamps and would have qualified for this pension last year or the year before but who will not qualify this year. There may be a small cohort of people in that boat and I urge the Minister to consider them. One is a constituent of mine and the Minister's. She has contacted the Minister's office and has spoken on national radio about this issue. I thank the woman in question, Martina Kelly, for her work in highlighting this two years ago when she became very ill. I urge the Minister to consider the people to whom I refer. I am sure there are very few of them. They are at home sick and would qualify for the invalidity pension if this provision had been introduced last year or the year before.

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It would be reasonable to grandfather the provision, as one might say, medical records could be obtained to prove people are ill and cases would not be made up. I welcome this. It is a positive step forward, but I urge the Minister to examine the position again in order to discover what might be the implications of extending the provision to those to whom I refer.

We look forward to the forthcoming increases in social welfare payments. I would prefer if they were greater but, obviously, there are huge competing pressures in the context of the budget. It is important that we say to everybody that they have a place in society and this is a country that looks after people, from those on the lowest incomes to the people on the highest. The Bill gives legislative effect to the range of increases in social welfare benefits.

I want to mention the people, predominantly women, who have lost their expectation of what their pensions would be because of changes introduced in 2012 and which we on this side of the House voted against at the time. What was done has given rise to a huge injustice. I note the Minister's commitment to rectifying the position and I look forward to action being taken to have the matter resolved. What we are speaking about are legitimate expectations. We had all sorts of debates about politicians' and judges' pensions and there were various constitutional blocks as to why somebody's pension could not be touched if it was a public sector occupational pension. If those constitutional blocks are there, I cannot see why they are not there in respect of people's social welfare's pensions. Women in particular, some of whom are outside the House this evening, do not have the same legitimate expectation they had when they paid their stamps - at whatever level was required at the time - regarding the size of the pensions they will receive.

I fully recognise that JobPath is crucial to activate people into the workforce and ensure that individuals who could be working but who are not receive the training and help they need to get into employment. I am fully on board with this. Deputy Moynihan recognised that there are certain people who should probably be on disability allowance because they are simply not fit to work. There are very few in this particular group, but I certainly know two gentlemen who are and who live in rural areas. One is in his late 50s and the other is in his early 60s. Neither has ever driven. They cycle around their rural parishes. The JobPath activation is proving a tremendous burden on them. Some people have to get taxis to the nearest town in order to avail of it, which is a huge imposition. While we do recognise that it is very important to ensure we get value for money in the context of social welfare, it is also important to recognise that category of people who, for whatever reason, have never worked a day in their lives, probably because they have not been able to do so and perhaps they never applied for disability allowance or were never guided towards it. I do not think many people would consider them to be availing of social welfare to which they are not entitled. These people live pretty basic lives in rural society.

I welcome that the Bill will pass before Christmas as a result of the fact that an election has not been called. The increases are due to come into effect shortly thereafter. We on this side of the House will be invoking the confidence and supply agreement to allow the Bill to be passed and the Government to get on with its work on this and other issues.

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