Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

5 o’clock

I welcome this Bill. The Regional Group has been campaigning for the rent-a-room relief. It made a proposal to the Government in this regard and, as a direct result, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, moved swiftly to implement the relief for social welfare beneficiaries. This is notable. The agreement facilitated the extension within one month, marking a significant policy shift. For a period of two years following the amendment, individuals leasing out rooms in their homes to non-employees or non-immediate family members will be able to disregard up to €14,000 in rental income for the purpose of a social welfare means assessment. This assessment is crucial in qualifying for weekly social assistance payments, increases to qualified adult rates, the working family payment and supplementary allowances. This adjustment is of particular importance to older people, allowing them to generate a weekly income of €269 without affecting their non-contributory State pension or benefits for the spouse or adult dependant of a contributory pensioner. Furthermore, this can offer essential additional income for families in a climate of rising living costs.

Historically, the rent-a-room scheme permitted taxpayers to earn a tax-free income of up to €14,000 annually for renting out a room. However, this income was means-tested for the purpose of social welfare payments, effectively penalising recipients. This discrepancy has now been rectified as a result of the Regional Group’s intervention with the Government. I acknowledge the close co-operation of the Government with the Regional Group in getting this done.

The rent relief for social welfare has been introduced initially for a two-year period, up to March 2025, and it is hoped that this will not only provide vital housing accommodation but also benefit the older person by providing companionship. Having a person in the spare room provides an overnight presence in the home, providing security and peace of mind to the older person. I hope community groups, active retirement groups and not-for-profit organisations embrace the new incentive by assisting older people in selecting suitable tenants. This is most important.

Despite these positive steps in the reform of the rent-a-room relief scheme, challenges remain, notably in extending the changes to medical card assessments, as initially requested by the Regional Group. This oversight limits the full potential of the scheme, particularly affecting older people who could lose their medical card upon receiving the additional rental income. As a group, we have emphasised the need to address this barrier to maximise accommodation availability and support for older citizens.

A critical issue is the stagnation of medical card income limits since 2005. Despite a significant increase in the basic rate of social welfare in this period, by €83.20, the fact that the thresholds have not been increased in 19 years is now a major barrier to people in gaining employment. Everyone receiving social welfare payments is technically over the income limit for the medical card. Cards are given on a discretionary basis to people on social welfare but if they earn €1 on top of their social welfare payment, they are automatically denied the card. This must be examined. This discrepancy poses a barrier to employment and access to affordable healthcare as any additional income over the social welfare payment immediately disqualifies individuals from medical card eligibility. There is an opportunity to bring more people into the economy by making it much more attractive financially to work. However, the medical card anomaly is a barrier to work. Putting barriers in the way of people going back to work has long-term social implications. The barrier to employment is a hidden one at a time when we need to facilitate people entering the workforce. We talked a lot about this morning during Leaders’ Questions about housing and getting people back to work. There are many people whom we should be encouraging to come back into the workforce. We need to do that. It is important.

While the Bill is being considered, it is important to remember that we must provide all the back-up services needed in healthcare. I am aware that the Minister is very much aware of what is needed in Galway in the form of capital investment to ensure we have a properly running hospital for the region. I acknowledge that the Minister has done much work in pushing this. It is important that we work together for the region to ensure the infrastructure is built as quickly as possible.

This morning, I gave the example of the primary care centre built in Tuam. The Minister knows about it. An X-ray facility is to go into the centre. Some €700,000 was given for this in 2019 by Deputy Simon Harris when he was Minister for Health. It is now 2024 but the X-ray facility is still not operational. When it takes that long to put a small facility into a centre, how long will it take us to build all that is required in Galway and the region? We must consider how we can best speed up the building of the required infrastructure.

I acknowledge the investment the Department of Health has made in the Old Grove site in Tuam, where €30 million was invested to refurbish the old Bon Secours hospital to create a mental health care unit and a children’s disability network team facility. I acknowledge that the HSE has built a first-class community nursing unit with the help of €7 million from the Joe and Helen O’Toole Charitable Trust. We need the infrastructure to attract the best and keep the young people we train in healthcare working in the system for the longer term.

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