Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

The purpose of this Bill is to give legislative effect to the payment in June of a bonus to recipients of child benefit. Just as the world emerged from the public health crisis caused by Covid-19, the war in Ukraine began. This, as well as the ensuing geopolitical instability, has caused an increase in inflation. The cost of living is particularly acute for parents of young families. The Government realises that it is an expensive time of year. Children have outgrown last year's summer clothes and money is needed for school tours and other excursions on top of the day-to-day costs of putting food on the table. That is why the Government announced in this spring's cost-of-living package further support for families through a range of social protection measures, including a €200 lump sum payment to pensioners, carers, people with disabilities and anybody in receipt of the working family payment the week of 24 April, at a cost of more than €250 million. An additional €100 payment will be also paid this year in respect of each child for whom the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance is paid. For a child aged from four to 11 years, the payment will be €260. For children aged from 12 to 22 years, it will be €385. The hot school meals programme will be extended to all DEIS primary schools from September, benefiting 64,500 children, and the reason for this Bill - a €100 lump sum payment in respect of every child for whom child benefit is paid - will be paid in early June of this year. Together, these supports will provide more than €410 million in additional supports to households and families in need. Delivery of these supports reflects the Government's continuing commitment to supporting families, particularly those most in need.

Under its latest forecasts, the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, expects inflation to moderate considerably due to falling energy costs. The ESRI anticipates inflation to average at 4.5% in 2023 before falling further to 3.5% next year. While this is welcome news, the Government knows that additional costs, particularly for basics like food and energy, remain stubbornly high. As a result, we are providing a continued programme of supports. These are in addition to measures that were introduced during 2022 to assist people and families with the cost of living, including: two fuel allowance lump sum payments of €125 in March 2022 and €100 in May 2022; a universal energy credit of €200 that was introduced in April 2022, followed by three further €200 energy credits; a reduction in third level student fees; a 25% reduction in childcare costs; and a 20% reduction in public transport fees. This wide array of measures clearly demonstrates the considerable focus the Government has placed on assisting ordinary people and families with the cost of living.

Turning to the purpose of the Bill, this legislation is required because changes to child benefit payments are explicitly excluded from the existing regulation-making powers under the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005. Accordingly, it is necessary to amend that Act to give effect to the Government's commitment to pay these child benefit bonuses in June. The temporary modification proposed allows me, in conjunction with my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, to make a regulation specific to child benefit. lf the Bill is enacted, the ensuing regulation will allow an increase of €100 in the rate of the June payment. This amendment of primary legislation is subject to a sunset clause of 31 December 2023.

Child benefit is a monthly payment of €140 to support parents and guardians. It is usually paid to the mother. Child benefit is paid for each child who is under 18 years of age if he or she is in full-time education or training or has a disability and cannot support himself or herself. This cost-of-living child benefit bonus payment of €100 will be paid in respect of 1.203 million children at a cost of approximately €120 million.

I will now turn to the sections of the Bill. It is a short, straightforward Bill.

Section 1 contains the substantive part of the Bill. It temporarily modifies section 292 of the 2005 Act so that regulations can be made that will allow a summer bonus to be paid to child benefit recipients.

Section 2 is simply the Short Title and construction of the Bill. I remind Deputies that last year's budget represents the largest social welfare budget package in the history of the State.

This is probably the shortest Bill I have ever taken through the Houses. Nonetheless, it represents an important and timely support for the more than 600,000 families and more than1.2 million children who will benefit. It is a particularly important support for working families. There are different views on the universal nature of child benefit, but it is one of the only measures at my disposal in the Department of Social Protection to support working families with young children. I am pleased this Bill will allow us to provide a €100 bonus payment in June. I look forward to hearing Deputies' contributions.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Táimid ag tacú leis an reachtaíocht seo, cé go bhfuil sí gairid. Is reachtaíocht thábhachtach í agus tabharfaimid gach cabhair don Bhille seo dul trí na Tithe, chun cúnamh a thabhairt do theaghlaigh agus leanaí ar fud an Stáit. This Bill is needed to facilitate, and give legislative effect to, the €100 cost-of-living payment that will be paid with the monthly child benefit payment in June. We will support and facilitate this legislation's passage.

Naturally, the Government's decision in late February that a lump sum child benefit payment of €100 would be paid this June was welcome for families and children. In many homes, however, it will only take the edge off bills that are already stacking up. It will go towards bills that have been left unpaid and are in arrears. This will not fix the struggles that families are facing and will continue to face, and it is important to recognise that. Much more is needed, not only from the Department of Social Protection, but across the Government. This child benefit measure will not be a substitute for measures targeted at lower income households, which will continue to struggle over the coming months into the summer and will be faced with ever-increasing back-to-school costs. We need to ensure the State protects such families and that families who are most in need of support for their children get that support.

Child benefit is an important support for all families. I acknowledge the Minister's comments on it being a universal payment, but there is a need across the whole system for balance between universal payments and means-tested ones.

There is an important place for universal payments. Very often, when we speak to constituents, they talk about the taxes they pay and what they get for them. It is very important that middle-income families who are paying into the system get something for it. They need to be part of the welfare system too. It is important for the resilience and the sustainability of the welfare system, politically, financially and in every other way that it is a system that serves all. Obviously, it should serve those most in need most of all but there is also a role for the welfare system in supporting middle-income families, particularly at times of high costs such as when back-to-school costs arise. On the cost of children, with three at home, I know that the costs certainly do add up. Of course, as I have noted, this is not a substitute for measures. It has a place in and of itself. However, we also need measures to support those on low incomes. We need to consider that further across the welfare system as a whole.

One-parent families are at the highest risk of poverty and have the lowest levels of disposable income. Many such families were struggling long before this unprecedented cost-of-living crisis. For many lone-parent families, inflation has meant that stretched low incomes can no longer cover essential costs. As a result, they are having to choose between, and often go without, certain daily necessities such as heat, food and electricity. There is a risk that tens of thousands more families, and particularly lone-parent families, will be pulled into deprivation.

I say all of this because social protection is a very important area and this is my first speech on a social protection Bill, short though it may be, since becoming social protection spokesperson. I will give a brief outline of my views and priorities. I look forward to working with the Minister and other spokespersons in my new role. We in Sinn Féin understand and are vocal on the fact that poverty is one of the greatest challenges we face as a State. We believe this portfolio is key to tackling and ending poverty. That is why we need more than one-off measures such as that included in the Bill. Coming back to the point about lone parents, Sinn Féin has long called for the establishment of a child maintenance agency to ensure that one-parent families are not forced through the courts unnecessarily and can rely upon maintenance. Ní cóir gur gá do dhaoine dul chuig dlíodóirí nuair atá sé de chumas acu teacht ar réiteach leis an tuismitheoir eile chun cúnamh airgid a fháil. Ní ceart go mbeadh dualgas ar thuismitheoirí aonair an méid sin a dhéanamh.

We need to see systemic change and action on matters such as the proposed legislation on child maintenance. We need to see plans to bring forward legislation as per the report of the child maintenance review group, particularly with regard to the treatment and inclusion of child maintenance as household means in the means testing of social welfare supports. The Government has committed to reviewing the means-testing of payments but, as of yet, we have no information as to when that will happen.

We need to reform our social welfare system by ensuring that all social welfare rates are adequate and we need to protect those who rely on such payments to protect themselves from poverty. Despite a growing cost-of-living crisis, the current social welfare rates are not where they should be. Working age payments need to be brought up over time so as to provide for a minimum essential standard of living, to protect people from poverty and to provide rate adequacy across the social welfare system. That is based on long-standing work by the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice, among others.

Other key priorities for me will be ensuring the adequacy of the social welfare system, addressing the additional cost of disability and improving job activation and employment services. I do not believe that the for-profit model now in place is the correct approach. It does not effectively serve the people who require services. I am also keen to push for the implementation of the commitments in our charter for family carers. It is also vitally important that the Government continues to support and invest in employability services. As a society, we must ensure that those with disabilities get the most assistance with securing employment or getting back to work and with remaining in employment. Tá na seirbhísí sin riachtanach do dhaoine atá faoi mhíchumas. Caithfidh iad a bheith ar fáil do dhaoine laistigh dá gcuid pobal féin.

We need to ensure that we build a society in which our young people believe they can prosper and reach their full potential. Far too many of our young people do not see a future for themselves here. We continually see qualified teachers, doctors, electricians and so on leaving their home and going abroad. Part of the issue is that there are many young people who would love to start a family but who do not do so or delay doing so because they feel they cannot afford it. We must change that too. While this goes beyond simple social welfare policies and while housing, childcare and so on play a role, there is a crucial central role for the Department of Social Protection in this. We need to ensure that there are protections with regard to maternity leave, paternity leave, parent's leave and parental leave and, as I have said before, we need to ensure that childcare is accessible and affordable. Tá sé seo go léir riachtanach chun cinnte a dhéanamh de gur féidir le daoine óga teaghlach a thosú. Tá go leor dóibh atá ag teacht chugam - táim cinnte go bhfuil siad ag teacht chuig an Aire freisin - ag rá gur bhreá leo é seo a dhéanamh ach nach bhfuil sé inacmhainne dóibh. As a result of those factors, it is not the case at the minute that childcare is accessible or affordable or that there are adequate protections. Young people need to see that they have a future in Ireland and that they can raise a family here.

In the here and now, people are under great pressure due to the cost-of-living crisis. It is crucial that those in need of support get the appropriate and necessary assistance required from the Government. Many people, ordinary workers and families, who will be left behind unless appropriate action is taken. It is extremely important that the State provide the support needed. Day in and day out, I am dealing with countless families in Cork who are really struggling under the relentless pressure of food costs, energy costs and rent and mortgage costs. There seems to be no end in sight and no respite for these families. The Government has failed to provide certainty to households with regard to energy bills and has refused to freeze rents for renters or to provide relief to hard-pressed mortgage holders. It continues to sit on its hands as food prices and back-to-school costs soar.

In budget 2023, the Government decided to provide rate increases for social welfare recipients that fall significantly short of the rate of inflation despite proposals brought forward by Sinn Féin and others who recognised the need for greater increases. As a spokesperson on social protection, I and my party will be fighting tooth and nail to ensure that those most in need get the most support in the next budget. The burden the escalating cost of living is placing on workers and families is completely unsustainable. This has been exacerbated by the Government's failure to intervene in the areas I have mentioned. The escalating costs now facing households across the State are completely unsustainable. Something has to give.

Families are really feeling the pressure, including at the supermarket till. The cost of the weekly shop is going up. People are going to the till wondering whether there is enough left on the card to pay for the shopping and trying to decide what they will leave behind if they do not have enough. Will they leave behind the washing powder, the packet of mince or the stuff for the kids' school lunches? These are the basic decisions people have to make, fearful of the horrible feeling when the words "payment declined" come up. Families receive the child benefit payment and go to do the weekly shop. The cost of that shop is going up and parents will be at the shelves wondering what to leave behind. The Government needs to understand the urgency required. It does not seem that it currently does. There seems to be no coherent strategy in place to combat the spiralling costs. The Government needs to face up to this fact and listen to calls from Sinn Féin and others for measures to be brought forward to pull families and children out of poverty. To come back to the point regarding child benefit, while it is not anywhere near enough in and of itself, we welcome and support this legislation and will facilitate its passage through the Houses.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I support the Bill and welcome the fact that we are promulgating this legislation. Considering it realistically, this measure will cost €122 million, so it is quite a significant intervention by the Government. To be fair, that has to be acknowledged. If €100 for every child is being put into households in June, that has to be acknowledged. I will say that first and foremost.

For the record, I would like to understand the manner in which the legislation is being brought forward and will seek clarification from the Minister. The power vested in the Minister under the legislation is only to be used to provide for an increase. As I understand it, the legislation cannot be used for decreases. Is that the case? That is the first question. For the record, the Minister is nodding in assent. If I understand correctly, any temporary variations such as that the Minister is proposing today require primary legislation and cannot be done through secondary legislation.

On that basis, I welcome this legislation. It puts money back into households and is designed to meet the costs of raising children in this State at this point in time. I acknowledge that the rate of inflation is running at approximately 6%. The ESRI tells us it is moderating slightly. I worry that supermarkets are still charging exorbitant prices for food, which has a bearing, given that real income remains quite fixed and inflationary costs to households mean the reduction in real incomes is having a knock-on effect. A measure like this will provide some alleviation, which must be acknowledged. We support the Bill on that basis.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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With this huge amount of time, I will try to make about 14 points, all of them worthwhile. In fairness, when we talk about the €100 extra, there is an acceptance across the board of the pressure people are under. There is a need for greater intervention and not enough has been done about price gouging in the retail sector but we will leave that for another day. I will use this opportunity to talk about an issue which I have spoken to the Minister about before, which is reasonable accommodation and grant schemes. There has been an issue with an insufficient number of people making use of it because of the existing difficulties. An employer has to make the application but, in some cases, it is the person with the disability; I spoke specifically about those with autism who may need certain assistive technologies. It would be better if they had and knew how to use them and that then could be introduced into a workforce-type setting. There is a need for some involved in Intreo to liaise with employers from the point of view of those with disabilities.

An issue has arisen particularly with remote and hybrid working for cross-Border workers, North and South. It is an issue that needs to be dealt with across the board but there are specific issues regarding people who will not have stamps and particular payments. PayPal initiated this idea - a number of southern workers needed to be moved to PayPal UK, as it is termed, due to remote working; the building was closed.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputies for their contributions. I congratulate Deputy Ó Laoghaire on his new position as social protection spokesperson. I look forward to working with him. A few issues have been raised. On child maintenance, we accepted the group's recommendations regarding the social welfare system. We no longer assess child maintenance payments in the means test for social welfare schemes. I need to put legislation through for that but in the meantime we are applying it on an administrative basis. We are not taking account of it at the moment. We will apply it until such time as I bring the legislation through. Legislation is currently being prepared, which I hope to bring through very quickly and very shortly.

The Deputy mentioned reasonable accommodation, which is to support employers to kit out their offices to help people with disabilities. The Deputy is correct. I want this to be used and people to take up this support. I will create more awareness around it. It is there to be used and to help people with disabilities to take up employment and support the employer in making sure that their workplaces are accessible for people with disabilities.

I thank all the Deputies for their support for this short Bill. I will continue to work with them as Members of this House, the joint committee and organisations representing our most vulnerable groups to continue to improve the social protection system to alleviate poverty where we can, support people into sustainable employment and provide a social safety net for people throughout their lives. I reiterate that this Government understands the difficulties people face with the cost of living. Some €1.3 billion in supports were paid out before the end of last year, along with the €12 increase in the social protection payment across the board in January and the €200 lump sum paid last month to people on social welfare such as carers, people with disabilities and pensioners. I extended the fuel allowance to anybody aged over 70 based on renewed limits, which were increased up to €500 for a single person and €1,000 for a couple. I am glad people are taking up the offer of the fuel allowance. There is also the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance for which we are giving a lump sum payment next month.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I note from the orders of the House that Committee and remaining Stages cannot be taken until 7 p.m. Will someone propose a suspension of the House until 7 p.m.?

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Can it be taken now?

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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Can we not just take it now?

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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It cannot be taken now because the order has been made that it cannot be taken earlier than 7 p.m. I wish it could be taken now.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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Can Standing Orders be suspended?

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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We will not suspend Standing Orders. I am sure there is a logical reason the Whip arranged for 7 p.m.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Maybe she thought it would take longer.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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I am conscious of not trying to be a nuisance but I imagine it was anticipated that both the previous debate and this debate would have continued for longer. I would say that is it. Is there any scope in the Standing Order?

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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There is no scope. None. People should be here in time and if they are not here, they will not get in. It is as simple as that.

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Ceann Comhairle is correct but it was Deputies from Government parties who did not take up their slots. They should not be given them.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Fair enough. That is a valid point. The House is suspended until 7 p.m.