Dáil debates

Friday, 3 December 2021

Social Welfare Bill 2021: Second Stage

 

8:45 pm

Photo of Dara CallearyDara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an díospóireacht. Tá sé tabhachtach go bhfuil seans againn na cúrsaí seo a phlé. I welcome the chance to debate this, whatever about the timing of it. This family-friendly Dáil is working out well. It is important but unfortunate the entire Dáil only gets to debate social welfare issues once a year around the Social Welfare Bill. It is time we looked at a much more long-term way of planning our social protection payments. A number of Deputies have referred to that. It is unfair on families who depend in a long-term way on social welfare payments, for whatever reason, that they are left from year to year trying to guesstimate their income for the following year. We must look at how we do this.

I acknowledge the extraordinary work every official in the Minister's Department has done since the beginning of the pandemic. They do extraordinary work all the time but have done so especially since the beginning of the pandemic. Payments were turned around in such quick time. Staff who joined from other elements of the Civil Service were brought on board and it was an extraordinary response. It has become fashionable to start bashing the civil and public service but staff of the Department of Social Protection around the country performed a superb role during the pandemic and continue to do so. They will be asked to do so again tonight.

I welcome the announcements on the PUP. We need urgent clarity at some stage over the weekend because there are people who will be affected. It is important to be conscious there are people in areas of the night-time economy and various aspects of the entertainment business who cannot just walk into another job somewhere else. They are skilled people whose talents are needed. When we eventually put the Covid chapter of our country’s history behind us we will want them to reignite our night-time economy, our hospitality and our tourism industry. They are leaving the sector and going to sectors that can give them the certainty they do not have tonight. I highlight also the issues around the PUP and EWSS whereby people who are being subsidised or getting income through that are being ruled out of bank loans and mortgages. As there is a subsidy there, some banks decline to deal with mortgage applications, even though there is no fault on the part of anybody who is working because it is Covid that is causing the difficulties. The Government needs to identify that and cut that out. If there are solid businesses that are being supported by the EWSS then they are solid incomes that will get through this. That is something Government needs to do.

I have already highlighted a number of anomalies and I keep drawing attention to the siloed way we have of doing business, whereby somebody with a disability is dealing with the Departments of Health, Education and Social Protection and there is very little correlation between them, and even within the Department of Social Protection. I have highlighted on a number of occasions cases where older children have come home because their disability centre or residential centre has closed down as a consequence of Covid. We have had cases, and brought them to the Minster’s attention, where people have lost the fuel allowance because that income has come into the house, even though the income is a welfare payment. I was dealing with the case of a lady in her 80s who lost her fuel allowance because that extra income came in. That kind of thing should not be happening anymore. In this day and age we should be able to share data and experiences and be at a point that somebody in that particular situation does not lose out. It is time we did all that.

I raise community employment, CE. I acknowledge the work the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O’Brien, is doing and the extra resources that went into the social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, in particular. That programme is an unsung hero of the Department and has so much potential. CE is also there. The Minister will be sick of hearing me say it needs far greater support and investment and needs to be embraced for what it actually is. It is much more than labour market intervention, which is the phrase that keeps coming back in parliamentary questions. It is not that. It is a social service and one that gives confidence and skills to people who may not get that opportunity otherwise. We need to invest in the participants, in sponsors in terms of the budget for materials and training and we need finally to resolve the issues for CE supervisors. I know there is a proposal on the table. There is a very mixed reaction to it. It is about giving CE the kind of place it really requires and giving it certainty. The same should be done with the rural social scheme, RSS.

I mentioned the silo side of things. The Department of Social Protection has the most information on people at various stages of their lives, whether it relates to pensions, jobseeker's allowance, disability payments or whatever payment reflects a certain aspect of their lives. That is the foundation on which we can start breaking down the silos of State services. The Minister's Department is potentially the gateway to making people's lives much easier. A parent who qualifies for a domiciliary payment should quality for so much more, across other Departments, rather than having to apply for everything separately, which adds so much stress to an already stressful life. We need to look at services in a much more holistic way rather than from Department to Department. The Department of Social Protection has the potential to be the gateway to us becoming a much more caring State, one that does not allow people to fall between the cracks of rules, regulations and paperwork. That is something the Minister's Department could look into and take on board by being the key Department in that area.

There is a lot of discussion of fuel costs at present. The Government needs to be far more vigilant around this issue. I have noticed that wholesale fuel prices have come down in the past ten days, but I have not seen that reflected in what we pay. Prices always go up very quickly and the Government, through the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, needs to be far more vigilant so that when prices come down reductions are passed on, especially to those on limited incomes who avail of the fuel allowance. That is the biggest challenge facing so many homeowners and households at present.

I welcome many things in the Bill, especially the new and very direct focus on carers. I acknowledge there are many good changes around that. Again, let this not be the final debate on social protection. There is a super-committee on the broader issue of social protection, but some of us are not on it. It needs to be a far more concentrated debate, one that preferably does not take place at 9.45 p.m. on a Friday.

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