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

I am seeking the House's approval for this Revised Estimate in order that we can continue to provide much-needed social welfare payments to our people. I am referring not just to payments related to the pandemic but also to all of our ordinary payments, namely, child benefit, pensions, carer's payments, payments to lone parents, payments to people with disabilities, as well as much more besides including community employment, other employment services and the carer's respite grant which is due next week. Without the House's approval today, we cannot proceed to make the necessary arrangements next week to process due payments and all of our payments would cease.

The Revised Estimates for Public Services 2020 was published in December last year. The projected expenditure for the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection in the original Estimate was €21.2 billion. Just over €11 billion of this was voted expenditure, paid through the Exchequer, to provide in the main for social assistance payments to pensioners, people with disabilities, jobseekers, child benefit and so on. The remaining €10 billion was to provide for social insurance benefits, paid for through the Social Insurance Fund.

As the House is aware, much has happened since then. The Revised Estimates before the House are unusual in two respects. First, it has become urgent to seek the House's approval for a higher level of expenditure this year. This is driven by the necessary measures we have taken to protect our people, insofar as we can, from the threat posed by Covid-19 and then, as a consequence of the essential measures taken to protect the health of our people, from the economic fallout as businesses have had to close and people have had to remain at home.

Second, given the scale of the exceptional measures we have taken, we will, within the next week or so, reach the ceiling under the four-fifths rule for expenditure. This is much earlier in the year than we could have considered possible a few months ago.

Accordingly, we now require the House's approval for this new Estimate to ensure we have the legal basis to continue to provide all our welfare payments.

The Revised Estimate provides for expenditure of more than €28 billion in 2020, or an increase to date of €6.8 billion over and above the Estimate published in December. That Estimate was based on the continued provision of supports to all sectors of society in need of or entitled to income supports, assuming the economy and labour market would continue on the positive trend they were following at the time. That seems a long time ago and, as we now know, that is no longer going to be sufficient to cover the expenditure of the Department. At this time, the Government has not yet made a decision on the future of the pandemic unemployment payment or the temporary wage subsidy scheme. In that respect, this Estimate has been constructed on a no policy change basis. It is based on the decision made by the Government and approved by this House in March to introduce the pandemic unemployment payment and temporary wage subsidy scheme for a 12-week period until the middle of June. That time limit was set at a time there was significant uncertainty as to the nature and trajectory of the Covid-19 pandemic. We now have much more information on the pandemic and the Government has published its Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business, which will result in the economy being reopened on a phased basis over the period to August 2020. Given the timeframe within the roadmap, it is not appropriate to withdraw the emergency income supports after 12 weeks as originally envisaged. I am happy to confirm again today that the payments will extend beyond the original June end date. As we gradually move through the phases of reopening our society, we need to review the nature of the pandemic unemployment payment and how it fits into cross-Government plans to keep Ireland healthy but also to get the country working again. We are currently considering this and intend to bring forward proposals for some changes within the next week or so. Any future decisions will be based on our commitment that everyone who needs help will get the most appropriate assistance and will also be based on the evidence we receive from the reopening of the economy. In the meantime, to ensure that all social welfare recipients can continue to receive their payments, it is necessary to present this Estimate at this time and we do so on the basis of decisions that have been made.

Thirteen different categories of expenditure related to Covid-19 give rise to the requirement for the additional €6.8 billion in the Estimate to date. The payment of the pandemic unemployment payment up to 9 June is estimated to cost €2.23 billion. The provision of the temporary wage subsidy scheme up to 12 June accounts for a further €2.07 billion. This €4.3 billion expenditure is the main reason for the significant spending on the social protection Vote to date. The remainder of the Covid-19 related expenditure relates to increased spending on existing social welfare schemes. Projections on the levels of unemployment for the remainder of 2020 are based on those published in the stability programme update. Jobseeker's benefit, jobseeker's assistance and jobseeker's benefit for the self-employed is projected to increase by a total of €2.2 billion. This will bring total spending in 2020 on jobseekers' payments to nearly €4.2 billion. More families are expected to qualify for the back to school clothing and footwear allowance this year, which will cost an additional €98.9 million. The enhanced illness benefit payments to those diagnosed with Covid or self-isolating as a probable source of infection are estimated to cost €74 million. Additional expenditure on rent supplement is projected at €70 million, and our anticipated increased spending on redundancy and insolvency payments will be €44.5 million and €8.9 million respectively. Additionally, we added four weeks of fuel allowance in March and April which cost €34 million. A provision of €5.5 million for 1,000 additional places on each of our community employment and Tús schemes are included in these Estimates.

While much of the additional expenditure is being provided to meet the challenges of Covid, we cannot lose sight of the core business of providing income supports to some 1.4 million recipients whose income support is not related to the pandemic. Approximately 30% of our expenditure will be on pensions, which will amount to €8.4 billion, while working age income supports are estimated to cost €7.8 billion, or almost 28% of total spending, in 2020. When account is taken of the €4.23 billion in respect of both the pandemic unemployment payment and the increased jobseekers' payments, more than €3.5 billion will be paid in other supports. These include the one-parent family payment, maternity and paternity benefits and treatment benefits. Illness, disability and carers' payments represent 17% of our budget, or €4.8 billion as projected. Spending on working age employment supports is estimated to cost €2.75 billion, which is nearly 10% of the total Estimate. Some €2.07 billion of this spending relates to the temporary wage subsidy scheme.

The scheme is administered on our behalf by the Department of Finance and the Revenue Commissioners. Expenditure on children is €2.8 billion, representing another 10% of our overall spend, and supplementary payments, including the household benefits package and free fuel schemes, are estimated to cost approximately €970 million, or just over 3%.

I feel that the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has responded quickly and efficiently to the emergency that was brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. In doing so, its Vote has been used to shield our people not just from the financial effects of the crisis but also from the potential health and life consequences. In its response, the expenditure from my Department played a pivotal role in ensuring that people had food on their tables and, in turn, that social harmony has ensured a high level of public compliance with the health restrictions which were introduced to help us tackle the virus. That is important to say.

With the approval of this House, I hope these Estimates will enable us to provide social welfare payments during the months ahead. Failure to approve the Estimates will mean that my Department will not have a legal basis to continue with the payments and that would be devastating in its consequences for the people who we are meant to serve. I hope and trust that we will have a constructive discussion today and that we get the positive outcome of continuing to serve the people we are here to serve.

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