Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The amendment asks for the provision of a number of reports and I will go through each one separately. The first point I will make is that my Department recently did two reports. One was on the impact of carbon tax on low-income families and the other was on the qualifying conditions for fuel allowance with specific reference to jobseeker's allowance and supplementary welfare allowance. Both reports were laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas and I can arrange to send the Deputies copies of both reports.

Energy poverty, which includes fuel poverty, is not the responsibility of my Department but instead comes under the remit of my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan. Research indicates that fuel poverty is best tackled in the long term by improving the energy efficiency of housing, which, of course, falls under the aegis of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien.

The fuel allowance is a contribution towards the cost of heating a household. It is intended to provide income support for low-income households, not to address the entirety of issues leading to fuel poverty. A review of the implementation of the strategy to combat energy poverty will be completed in 2021 by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. Alleviating energy poverty will also be a key consideration for the national retrofit plan and will be published next year by that Department. There is ongoing work in that area.

The amendment also calls for a report on the operation of the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS. The legislation establishing the EWSS was brought through the Houses of the Oireachtas by my colleague, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe. It would therefore be inappropriate for me to accept this amendment. Deputies will be aware that Revenue operates this scheme and therefore has access to the information that the Deputies seek.

Regarding the report on reducing the pension age, the Government has just established the Commission on Pensions, as Deputies know. The commission's terms of reference encompass consideration of issues such as PRSI contribution rates, State pension age and contribution requirements, all of which are mentioned in the proposed amendment. The commission will also be considering international comparators as a part of its work and it is due to complete that work and report by June 2021. It would be pre-emptive and futile to accept this amendment because work on these matters is already under way.

The amendment also calls for a report on jobseekers aged between 18 and 24. A further amendment, in the name of Deputy Kerrane, is on the same issue so I will address both amendments at the same time. It is not within my remit, as Minister for Social Protection, to report on the mental health of social welfare recipients. However, I can confirm that my Department is currently finalising a poverty impact assessment of age-related rates of jobseekers or young people aged 18 to 24. I expect the report will be available for me to consider within the coming weeks. Jobseekers under 25 years of age who have qualified children, those who were in the care of the HSE immediately before they turned 18 and those who are in receipt of housing supports in their own right and living independent of the family home, for example on rent allowance or housing assistance payment, HAP, are not subject to the reduced rate of jobseeker's allowance. This ensures that the most vulnerable young people are provided with the higher rates of payment. Deputies will be aware that the Government has committed to improved jobseeker supports for people aged under 24 over the lifetime of this Government and I feel that the best way to support young people is to prepare and support them into employment. That includes young people on the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP. As the public health crisis subsides, we will engage with them to offer access and supports to return to employment.

Those are my responses to the different reports that have been requested.

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