Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In the context of the announcements made this evening, I welcome the Minister's statement that the PUP will be restored. I look forward to receiving further details in that regard. In the short time since those announcements were made and the Minister's statement, I was contacted by campaigners in the arts community and by people in the taxi industry. They are very worried about their sectors and whether they will qualify for supports. I would welcome if some clarity could be provided to the people in those industries. We know all too well at this stage of the pandemic that they are the first areas to fall off the cliff and the last to get back up, unfortunately for them.

One taxi driver to whom I spoke said that in the late afternoon yesterday there were more than 210 jobs available on the app used for scheduling work but that there were only two jobs at the same time today. Therefore, things have got really bad very fast for the taxi industry. We look forward to receiving more clarity from the Minister and from her office concerning the extent to which the PUP and other supports will apply.

The Labour Party welcomes the publication of the Social Welfare Bill 2021. It is important legislation that, as the Minister quite rightly pointed out, will have an allocation of €558 million in 2022. It must be measured in more than euro and cent, though. The value of social protection is not on the balance sheet but in the homes of the carers and the cared for. It can provide for, as President Higgins famously said, the social floor under which a person should not fall.

We welcome the debate on this Bill. It is unfortunate that the Social Welfare Bill for the second time in two years has been shoehorned into the end of the legislative agenda as the Christmas break fast approaches. The Government knows that it must pass the Bill but this legislation deserves more scrutiny than a couple of hours on a Friday evening. We in the Labour Party will be submitting amendments to this Bill, not least regarding the area of the new local employment services contract. This House agreed to pause it this week, but we have yet to see any action from the Government in that regard. The new regional employment service, the first phase of which was recently advertised for seven counties in four lots through a request for tender, RFT, will replace existing jobs clubs and local employment services with the discredited JobPath-style model. It is a payment by fee-per-person-referred approach, that establishes a work-first model, and places no recognition on progression to education, training and work programmes, such as community employment and Tús.

The Government will trumpet social welfare increases in this budget. However, the inflation rate of 3.7% that the Government is projecting means that the modest increases provided for social welfare payments will be eaten up by the rising costs of food, energy and other essential goods and that will reduce the value of payments further. To bring this matter back to the context of Covid-19, and as has been raised already in recent weeks, one thing that families are going to have to pay for now are antigen tests. For those on social welfare payments, the price of antigen tests, whether bought in Lidl, Aldi or a pharmacy, will knock their household budgets right out of whack. They are still too expensive and they must be subsidised by the Government to the point of being free for those who most need them.

This budget spreads around a lot of fivers but it does not insulate those on fixed incomes from rising prices. Jobseeker's benefit and allowance of €203 a week would have to rise by a minimum of €7.50 just to keep pace with the projected rate of inflation. Instead, there will only be a rise of €5. The Minister has secured a range of measures across supplementary payments. These are all welcome but if prices are rising faster than the income people are receiving, then they will have less to spend on everyday essentials. Since 2019, people receiving social welfare payments have seen no weekly increases, while inflation in that period ran at 4.3%, and that is on top of the increases now expected. We already know that energy prices are soaring and that electricity and gas suppliers have already implemented many price increases that will cost households more than €400. This budget was meant to tackle inflation, but it does not even meet the projected rises in the cost of living. We have an opportunity now to address this issue on Committee Stage.

While there are those who will incur increases from putting their heating on, there are also people who are just too afraid to put the heating on now because they are afraid of the bill that will come in as a result. Everyone is talking about this issue and we are all receiving representations in our offices. There are people on social welfare payments and in low-paying jobs, as well as older people, who are just too afraid to put their heating on. That is an unfortunate fact in Ireland in 2021, and it is something that neither this Bill nor any other measure brought forward by the Government is addressing. Our social insurance contributions are pay-related and fund social welfare benefits and retirement pensions. When workers lose their jobs, therefore, they should be entitled to immediate support from the State. The link between previous income and the level of benefits paid out should be re-established. We are proposing a phased introduction of this policy, starting with a €50 top-up and the removal of waiting lists for jobseeker's benefit.

The concept of family has changed as well, and it is time to bring Ireland into the 21st century.

The Department of Social Protection has a big role in this. We want all families to be treated fairly, regardless of whether the people in them are married. This issue is experienced by a large number of people all over Ireland. The 2016 census indicates that there are over 75,000 cohabiting couples in Ireland with child dependants, a figure that is likely to be even greater in the next census. If a couple is cohabiting, the Department of Social Protection can assess the means of both individuals when carrying out a means assessment for a social assistance payment such as a jobseeker's allowance or carer's allowance. It does not provide any guarantee to continue contributory social protection payments like the widower's or widow's pension when one person dies, and that is something that must change.

I will finish by saying I am greatly concerned about the diminishing role of community welfare officers in the Department. A community welfare officer plays a very important role in any community and a good community welfare officer can be at the very front line or sharp end of poverty, need, help and assistance in every community. One area where community welfare officers should be trusted and continue to be trusted is rent supplement and its application. Community welfare officers know their community and the families therein. They know the needs out there. I am very concerned about what I am seeing in my area, which is the centralisation of rents to a central unit in the Department. This was tried before almost ten years ago and it did not work. We need community welfare officers to have discretion and they must be trusted. At the root of all this diminution of a community welfare officer's role is a lack of trust in those individuals. They should be trusted to apply payments required, including exceptional needs and rent supplement payments. They are in the community and know it. They can be tough but they are fair. If somebody needs an emergency payment, they will get it from a community welfare officer. We should not be centralising emergency payments of any kind and they should remain in the community. Intreo offices were built for a reason, as a one-stop shop for people in need so a person's first day unemployed is the first day that person looks to get back into work. Community welfare officers are central to that role. Empower them and trust them. Please put them back at the centre of their community where they can give the most help, as they have for decades.

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