Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to be discussing this legislation and the changes that will come in as a result of budget 2023. Our social protection system, and our social welfare system before that, has always been instrumental when it comes to supporting and protecting people when they need help the most, whether through times of illness or unemployment or when people reach an older age or need maternity benefit or carers' allowance, etc. There are so many other instances in which we supply help when people need it.

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, and now during this cost-of-living crisis, we have seen the importance and value of supporting people and protecting jobs when this needs to happen. This is what we are now continuing to do with budget 2023. In 2021, almost €3 out of every €10 spent by the Government was on social protection measures. We supported more than 3 million people last year through the 85 million individual payments made. This accounted for more than €30.8 billion in spending. This Bill will allow us to continue to support the most vulnerable in our society. There are some really positive measures in this Bill, too many to go through in the couple of minutes I have. I wish to highlight in particular, though, the benefits for families.

There were 27,108 recipients of maternity benefit between July and September this year. This Bill will increase the rate for maternity benefit from €250 to €262 per week to support mothers in those vital first few months of a child's life.

It was Fine Gael in government which introduced paternity benefit in 2016 - a massive step forward in recognising the important role that both parents play in a child's life. It is time to look at extending paternity benefit beyond two weeks. That is something I would wholeheartedly support and perhaps something we might look to in future budgets. I welcome that paternity benefit will also be increased to €262 per week along with adoptive benefit and parent's benefit. We first introduced parent's benefit in 2019. This has been increased from two to seven weeks per parent and is taken in the first two years following birth or adoption.

Research shows that when it comes to taking time away from work to care for children, it is still mostly mothers who do it. Even though benefits and leave have increased for fathers in recent years, uptake has remained somewhat low. Many fathers in particular feel the effects that taking leave may have when it comes to their career. However, I am encouraged that the number of fathers claiming parent's benefit is now on the rise. In 2021, only 28% of applicants claiming the benefit were male. In 2022, this had increased to 35%.

Coming from the corporate world, I have a big interest in gender diversity in the workplace. While we have made strides, the adherence to old-fashioned gender norms about who should work and who should mind children in families made up of a mother and a father can still be present, in particular when it comes to workplaces. I welcome the increase in fathers claiming parent's benefit and taking that time off. I reiterate a call I made previously in this House to employers to support parents within their organisation and encourage them to avail of the full parental supports available to them.

On top of the increases in maternity and paternity benefit rates, the Social Welfare Bill will also see a €40 increase in working family payment thresholds, a €12 increase in the maximum rate of all other core weekly payments, a €20.50 increase in domiciliary care allowance, a €30,000 increase in the savings disregard for fuel allowance for older people, extended eligibility for participation on community employment, CE, schemes and an increase in earnings attracting the lower employee PRSI rate.

In the cost-of-living crisis, our focus is on putting money back in people's pockets, on supporting families, on supporting individuals and supporting businesses with energy bills and rising inflation. I thank the Minister because that is exactly what the Bill sets out to achieve.

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