Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will allow time for the Minister and Minister of State to respond. I join with them in paying tribute to the Department of Social Protection staff, who have clearly been working under extreme pressure since Covid first hit and are due great credit for the work they have done. I always find them to be extremely helpful and I thank them for all their service in this last year.

My first questions relate to the PUP. I acknowledge what the Minister has said about a possible extension. As we all know, the PUP is due to end at the end of March and the plan was for people to be moved onto jobseekers' payments at that point. The Minister has said that this matter will be looked at in the next few weeks. I ask that that be done as a matter of urgency and that an announcement be made on it sooner rather than later, in order to make sure people have certainty regarding the next few months. I would like the Minister to extend the PUP. There are different requirements for jobseekers' payments and people get higher rates under the PUP. I ask the Minister to keep the PUP open to those who will need it in the months ahead.

Will the Minister advertise and publicise the fact that parents who cannot return to work due to childcare facilities or schools being closed can now access the PUP? That is a welcome move but I ask the Minister to publicise it because parents are simply not aware of it.

I note what the Minister said about reports that showed people on the PUP are better off. There is a range of people on the PUP and people who earned over €400 a week previously are on €350 a week. Many people on the PUP are actually on less now so I assume when the Minister said that, she was looking at those who are getting €203 a week, who had previously earned €200 or less. We have to remember that nobody in this State is better off on €203 a week. That is usually the maximum payment for social protection and it is set below the poverty line. Nobody in this state is better off on €203, particularly when one looks at the cost of living, which has increased year on year in the last few years.

As regards community employment, the issue is not the number of places. Today, there are over 1,700 vacancies on community employment schemes. The issue, which has been raised very well down in Kerry, is the three-year rule.

People providing essential community services such as meals-on-wheels have to leave the scheme when the three years expires and in some cases that service cannot be continued. I am again asking the Minister to review the three-year rule because it is hampering important and essential services in our community, particularly services for the elderly. Places are not the issue in an awful lot of cases.

I regret that nothing has been announced in regard to the fuel allowance and fuel costs. We know people are spending more time at home and that energy costs have increased in the last year. We know also that a report from the Minister's Department shows that carbon tax increases, including those introduced in the last budget, will impact disproportionately on low income households. There was a slight increase in the fuel allowance, which I welcome, but we need a specific measure for those affected by Covid. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is clear that we will face a major issue with utility debt. I am sure the Minister is aware of the ten asks of the National One Parent Family Alliance, NOPFA, one of which relates to a discretionary fund. I note a number of other countries have introduced such a fund. NOPFA is seeking an initial discretionary fund of €5 million to help those in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment and, perhaps, those in receipt of the working family payment and other social welfare payments, to meet their bills. It is a major issue at this time of year in particular. I ask the Minister to confirm if she has seen the asks from the National Lone Parent Family Alliance and if she will consider the establishment of a discretionary fund.

In regard to the fuel allowance, I again ask the Minister to look at suspending the 15-month rule, even on a temporary basis. A person who loses his or her job in October is not entitled to any assistance with fuel costs for that winter or the following winter. The allowance will not be payable until the following February 12 months, which is too long. This is leaving people who are losing their jobs with no assistance in regard to fuel costs. I again ask the Minister to consider suspending the 15-month rule, even on a temporary basis for the duration of Covid.

On parental leave and benefit, the Minister said that the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, is preparing the relevant legislation and it will be introduced as soon as possible. I would like to know the reason for the delay in regard to this legislation given it will only change the reference from two weeks to five weeks. It is probably only a change in the figure from 2 to 5. Parents are desperately in need of this leave. They are currently taking unpaid leave that they cannot afford. This is leaving parents and families in precarious situations. I ask the Minister to raise with the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, the need for this leave to be introduced as quickly as possible.

I want to raise another issue that is, perhaps, a minor issue in comparison with everything that has been said, including in the Minister's contribution. The issue is the continued use of the electronic pen in post offices, particularly for older people. A number of my older constituents have been in touch with me on this issue. The practice was suspended when we were in a far less grave situation in terms of Covid than we are today. Currently, elderly people are required by post offices to use the electronic pen to sign to collect their pension. They feel very uneasy about this. I appreciate sanitisers are available and that social distancing guidelines are in place but they are nervous. I do not understand why when this practice was suspended when the incidence of Covid was not half as bad as it is now, it is in place now.

I again urge the Minister to look at the rules in regard to the fuel allowance. Many people, children and lone parent families were in poverty long before Covid came along. The situation now is one hundred times worse for those families, particularly those families in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment, including those in the entertainment sector who have not worked for almost one year at this stage. They need help with their bills. The largest of these bills is their utility bills but there is no assistance available to them in that regard.

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