Seanad debates

Wednesday, 2 March 2005

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2005: Second Stage (Resumed).

 

3:00 pm

Margaret Cox (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister to the House. We are becoming familiar with him from earlier debates on transport and more recent debates on pensions and social welfare provision.

It is a great occasion to be able to welcome legislation in this House that provides for the largest ever social welfare expenditure of €12 billion. It is indicative of the attitude of the Government and its focus and desire to ensure that the people in need of our support, at a time when there are less people than ever in that position, are looked after within the social welfare system. That is the type of country we are.

The Minister spoke about the different increases and it is worthwhile listing them: a €14 per week special increase for lower payments with new rates of €148 and €168 per week; a €12 weekly increase for pensioners, giving new rates of €166 to €179; €10 and €12 increases in child benefit; a €39 increase per week in family income support thresholds; the €1,000 respite care grant, an increase of €165; the respite care grant extended beyond carers allowance and carers benefit; the capital assessment ease, with the first €20,000 of capital disregarded; an increase in maternity benefits from 70% to 75% of reckonable earnings; and a €35 weekly payment to residents in institutions not on disability allowances. Those are the highlights.

The differences those changes make to people on a daily basis are amazing. The State pension is paid to older people who feel that they have contributed to the economy we all enjoy today. It is this economy that allows us to put €12 billion per annum into provisions for those less well off than ourselves.

I have, however, some concerns. An advantage of being in Government and in charge of Ireland Inc. is that it gives us a chance to reflect. We are not firefighting on a daily basis, scrimping and saving every penny, and we can look to the future to see our priorities and the gaps on which we should concentrate.

The Minister has heard this before but child benefit is the single most effective family income payment. It is not means tested or taxed and is paid to the mother of the family. It is a significant amount of money per month. For four children, it comes to a total of €637.80, a huge amount of money to receive every month and it is welcomed by all families. It is not a payment, however, that deals with child care costs. It deals with child poverty and is a universal family support mechanism that does not focus on working or non-working parents or two or one parent families.

It is time it was recognised at Government level that child benefit does not address child care costs for families where both parents must work to pay for a home and not be reliant on the State for housing or health care.

Senator Terry said we had failed to address some of the commitments made in the area of child benefit. It is time for a review of child benefit to see whether it is achieving what was intended. Is it effective given that there are more women at work than ever before, that women wish to work family-friendly hours, flexible hours, part time and so on? Is this the appropriate mechanism to address the issue of child care? My view is that it is not. We need to look at the whole issue of recognising the cost of child care and deal with it within the Revenue as well as by continued improvements in child benefit.

I welcome the changes made in the carer's benefit and allowance and the respite grant scheme. The increase to €1,000 in the respite grant is a significant improvement for a number of reasons. One can do something significant with €1,000. If one is looking after three or more people one may have €3,000 or €4,000. That it is issued automatically gives great joy to many. I am aware of this from my mother because I have a sister at home with Down's syndrome who has been on DPMA. In the summer of each year the respite grant cheque arrives automatically. It did not matter whether it was for a weekend away for the two of them or a weekend away for my mother on her own, it was the fact that the State had recognised the work and the effort she was putting in to look after a family member. The recognition was worth more than anything else. It is an important grant and it is universal to all carers in receipt of carer's benefit or those looking after people with disabilities.

The Minister referred to the means test income disregard which has been increased to €270 for a single person and to €540 for a couple. This means that a couple with two children can earn up to €30,700 and receive the maximum rate of carer's allowance. If a person in receipt of a widow's or widower's allowance receives child dependent allowance, because he or she has young children, and is looking after a relative such as a mother, father or a father-in-law, he or she cannot receive an additional payment from the Department of Social and Family Affairs in terms of the carer's allowance. That is not fair and we need to find a way of addressing the issue. While I understand the principle of dual payments from the social welfare system, it does not make sense that if one's spouse was alive one could have a income disregard of €540 but because one's spouse is not alive, and one is in receipt of a widow's or widower's pension, one cannot receive a carer's allowance. That issue will have to be addressed.

I welcome the removal of those on the minimum wage from the tax net. We have worked hard to achieve this and it needs to be recognised. It is a first for Ireland and a first for us within the system. When we talked about the introduction of the minimum wage we never believed that within a few short years those on the minimum wage would be out of the tax net.

The Minister dealt at length with the issue of pensions and cited the statistic for the number of women who do not have a pension provision. As one who is lucky to be a Member of this House, I recognise the Minister's commitment to that area but something must be done for those who stay at home for a number of years to raise their families and do not get back into the active workforce. Some way will have to be found to ensure there are flexible pension arrangements to deal with short-time, part-time or whatever hours they work while also reflecting the years they spend at home — when they do not cost the State anything — and make a net contribution through their efforts as a homemaker, a child carer or their involvement in various societies such as meals-on-wheels. That group deserves our attention and it is incumbent on us to ensure they get their due as they move towards retirement. I ask the Minister to keep that issue at the top of his agenda.

I turn to the increase in maternity benefit from 70% to 75% of reckonable earnings. I plead with the Minister, as I did on the last occasion when the Minister of State, Deputy Fahey, dealt with the Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004, that if parental leave is to be effective, in respect of looking after one's children and taking time out of the workplace, it is incumbent on us to find the money to pay parental leave benefit. We allow carer's leave and protect rights. We have provided for parental leave but we do not pay a parental benefit. To allow people take their full amount of parental leave, many smaller organisations may have to introduce a policy which forces them to take it in bulk in order to manage a business behind the scenes when a person takes time off. They operate a policy that provides that under legislation one is entitled to parental leave but one has to take the 14 weeks together, rather than a day or two at a time, or whatever. That legislation has changed and the minimum amount of time one can be forced to take is six weeks. However, to take six weeks off, when one forfeits six individual wage packets, is not a feasible option for many and is of no benefit if people cannot receive some funding.

Like the respite grant, it is not always about the amount of money but the recognition. I appeal to the Minister as he continues to build on a social welfare system that is inclusive and provides for our society and our economy, to look at parental leave and ensure something positive is done. It may be only a small payment in the beginning.

I compliment the Minister's Department on its communications system. It is absolutely superb in regard to how it keeps people informed of benefits and it should be complimented. If it can continue to improve in that area it will certainly be worthwhile.

I refer to an issue in regard to child care and I do not know if it will have a bearing on social welfare. Senator Henry mentioned a system in France on which I do not have much detail where one can buy tax free cheques and pay for child care or for looking after the elderly. No tax is paid by the recipients of those cheques. This is a way of ensuring equity within the tax system for payments that are important to the social welfare system, be it child care, caring for the elderly or whatever.

On the occasion of the debate on the Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004 with the Minister of State, Deputy Fahey, we raised the issue of force majeure leave where people can take three days in any one year and five days in any three years, in every employment. There is no central register for employers to check whether the person has taken this leave in a previous employment. In regard to the expansion of the PPNS number, it might be possible to create a central register whereby if companies pay force majeure leave to employees it is registered with the Department of Social and Family Affairs and employers can check whether the person has used up his or her entitlements in the previous three or five years. This may be an additional headache for the Department but it will help the operation of force majeure and, hopefully, parental leave in the future.

I thank the Minister for coming to the House. I commend the Bill to the House and look forward to its completion. The comments made by Senator Terry about pensions are very valuable and important. I ask that this Bill should not be obstructed because it will be of overall benefit to all other payments.

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