Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's positive response. I believe the Minister said that she would have the pay-related scheme in place by March for people who had been put out of work for one reason or another. This would be important. People who exit employment status come to a cliff edge and their incomes fall abruptly. I would accept a scheme wherein the benefit rate they received was graduated over time and related to their pay. The problem is that, when people in community employment schemes and the like finish their time on those schemes and go back on the benefit, they get reduced payments.

In the overall context, I agree wholeheartedly that we must ensure that work pays, that we create an incentive for people to return to work and that the income gap between working and not working is substantial.

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