Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

This question arises from one of the recommendations outlined in the report of the Commission on Taxation and Welfare, which is an excellent report. I would recommend all Members of the House read and give careful consideration to it. Recommendation 12.2 reads:

The Commission recommends that working-age payments should be reformed to move towards an income related working-age assistance payment available to all households. The payment should be designed so as to avoid subsidising low-paid employment.

This chimed with commitment number 43 in the Pathways to Work strategy, which undertakes to "Prepare a paper on options to modify the longer term jobseeker assistance payment by utilising the Revenue real time earnings data to adjust payment levels in line with a person’s weekly earnings, to guarantee a basic income floor and ensure that in all cases a person’s income increases when they work." Can the Taoiseach inform the House when it is planned for that options paper to be prepared and published?

See this speech in context