Michael Brennan (Progressive Democrats)

I thank Members for a useful and constructive debate. We will be able to go into matters in more detail on Committee and Report Stages.

Senator Terry raised the issue of deferring the State pension and having an enhanced one later. This is part of the pensions review proposal, which is a good idea. I must consider how it will work and how much one will pay actuarially. I will need to do this in the proper context. Work is being done in this regard to see how we can deal with the matter as quickly as possible.

She also raised the issue of the qualified adult allowance, which used to be called the adult dependant allowance, being paid directly to qualified adults, who are usually women. I said previously that I favour this proposal. There is always a risk of it being misinterpreted. "Individualisation" is a phrase about which one must be careful in the welfare system because it can be misinterpreted. Having said that, it makes a lot of sense. The National Women's Council is interested in it and we are doing work in that area. The Senator asked about increasing the allowance up to 100%, which would be more difficult because of the financial cost involved. While I do not envisage this happening, we are trying to reach some targets.

On making home-makers' credits retrospective, I promised that I would examine this issue. On the abolition of the carer's means test, I discussed the issue recently with my colleagues in the Dáil. While I have an open mind on the matter, and I have a budget of €140 million, I am not sure if it is the right way to spend the money. In general, means tests are a good idea because they focus and target the welfare money which is available. However, as means tests are sometimes not worth a candle, it may be better to adopt a universal policy. While I am not sure if we have reached that point, that kind of money would increase significantly the carer's allowance and the thresholds for people. I will keep an open mind on the matter and return to the subject.

The Senator asked me to continue the FIS advertising campaign and so on. I hope to get statistics in the next few days on the effect of the campaign. I agree that the staff in the Department and the professional advisers did a good job in this regard and I hope the message hit home. If there is evidence that the campaign worked, we will run a similar campaign on a range of other benefits.

The Senator spoke to me on many occasions about the protection scheme for pension funds. There is one in the UK. I do not want to misrepresent them, but the message I am getting is that they would not set up such a scheme again. Rather than making pension funds more responsible, it appears it contributed to making them less responsible. Once a major safety net was being managed by the State, they very often gave up too easily and handed over the problem to the protection fund. This has resulted in the protection fund coming under serious pressure in the UK. I promise to keep an eye on what is happening. The scheme is in operation in another jurisdiction and I will wait to see if it works. The early indications are that it is not working in the way it was intended. Therefore, we must consider if there is a better way to protect pension funds and, more important, to protect the cash flow and income flow of recipients of pension funds.

Senator Cox referred to paid parental leave, which remains on the Government's agenda. There have been expansions to unpaid parental leave. Different benefits have increased dramatically in this area in recent times. The number of weeks for parental leave has increased. I will continue to monitor this aspect to see what is possible.

The Senator also referred to the widow's pension. I examined whether a widow who is a carer should receive a carer's allowance as well as the widow's pension. The problem is ring-fencing the payment. While it may be a mantra, it has to do with not paying two allowances to someone. I examined the issue in the budget but I had to back off for a number of reasons, including the cost element. Even by paying a half rate, if one included other groups, the cost would amount to approximately €23 million. If one paid the full rate, the cost would amount to approximately €50 million. The carer's allowance for people over the age of 66 was increased to almost €200, which makes it the largest single allowance in the State. I thought that by making the carer's allowance the highest allowance available, it would attract people onto that allowance and off the widow's allowance. It may be better to continue to make the carer's allowance attractive because, while it may not be possible to pay two allowances, people will opt for the higher allowance. This was the thinking behind making the allowance the highest in the system.

I believe in keeping all the systems under constant review to see what is possible. The all-party Oireachtas committee recommended movement in this area. One cannot confine the allowance to widows. Many other groups in society in receipt of other social welfare payments could make exactly the same claim. In fact, everyone on social welfare could say they want a second allowance to do caring if they are available to do so. The proposal is not as simple as it appears. I am disposed to the concept but it may be better to give carers solid income support. When they get onto that allowance, it would be the most attractive one.