Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

Absolutely. As I said to Deputy O'Connor earlier, we want to ensure that the social protection system is work-friendly and the welfare traps which inhibit people from taking up work are removed. I highlighted earlier that if a person on jobseeker's payment receives an offer of part-time work, he or she can end up worse off financially if his or her hours are spread over the whole working week rather than concentrated in three days or less. That is an anomaly I want to address. A proposed potential model of a working age payment would change the basis of the current payment structure so that a person's payment would be based on a percentage of the difference between their income and a specified threshold for the family type. The purpose of that proposed change would be to take advantage of real-time PAYE information, to move away from the days of a work approach to an income-based approach. That will ensure that a person will always be better off taking up employment. As I said, I want to publish draft proposals which will allow for a full consultation with all stakeholders, including the Oireachtas. I congratulate the Deputy on his appointment to the Oireachtas committee on social protection, rural and community development in advance of any final agreement on the working age payment.

See this speech in context