Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis na Seanadóirí. At the outset, I apologise for the complete illegibility of the circulated speech which contains some good news which I would have liked Members to read. However, I appreciate that was impossible to do given the manner in which it was distributed. Judging by the contributions made, Members appear to have got the sense of everything contained in the legislation.

I found Senator Cummins's contribution interesting. One rarely comes across a Member of either House of the Oireachtas who has had to sign on. It is a valuable insight to be able to give to the House. Equally, there are very few people who sign on and who end up in either House of the Oireachtas, having been elected by the people. I commend Senator Cummins on his success in turning his life around.

I noted, despite the variety of contributions, that there were some key issues on which Members focussed. The main issue of concern is that referred to by Senator Ó Murchú, namely, the dignity of the person. The concern of everyone in the Department of Social and Family Affairs in terms of our budgetary considerations is to support the dignity of people who find themselves in vulnerable situations, namely, the unemployed, the elderly, lone parents, carers and other people who find themselves dependent on the State. Protecting them in a financial way while protecting their dignity is a huge part of what we do.

The budget for the Department of Social and Family Affairs is €19.6 billion, which is an extraordinary amount out of a total budget of €55 billion to be expended next year. We are particularly conscious of the increasing number of people losing their jobs and having to sign on each week, many of whom would never have expected to become dependent on social welfare. We are conscious of the concern being expressed in respect of processing times. We do not want people to be left waiting for payments and for this reason 115 extra staff have been assigned to this area. Also, we have set up a specialised unit of 18 deciding officers who will do nothing else but make decisions in respect of claims. This is being done in an effort to speed up the processing of claims. We will keep this matter under review. Some offices around the country have received approval for five extra staff and others have received approval for one extra staff member. The processing times at some offices in respect of jobseeker's benefit and the jobseeker's allowance is good. In all cases the processing time for the jobseeker's allowance is longer because eligibility for it is subject to means testing. Issues can arise about habitual residency in the case of many non-national applicants or about trying to check their bank records at home etc. Those issues can cause delays but, equally, delays in some offices have been unacceptable and, for that reason, we have tried to organise the allocation of extra staff.

The proposal regarding the Combat Poverty Agency is an issue of concern to many people. The agency will not be suppressed or subsumed into the Department. I firmly believe there is a real need for a far better unit than the existing one — the Office for Social Inclusion — but it has good staff and expertise. In bringing the two together we can ensure we have an enhanced unit that examines and highlights the issues, carries out and publishes research, and advises on Government policies.

The establishment of the Combat Poverty Agency in 1986, by the late Frank Cluskey, was an innovative measure. It has played a strong role, but in the meanwhile other mechanisms and structures have been put in place, the most valuable of which is social partnership in which the community and voluntary groups have an active, official role. We have a Cabinet Committee on Social Inclusion. There are social inclusion units in each Department. My previous Department, the Department of Education and Science, came up with a scheme for disadvantaged schools, the DEIS — which has been discussed in this House many times — focusing on people in poverty and trying to lift them out of it. There are high level groups of Government officials and a range of different structures. It was opportune that more than a year ago it was decided to review the agency to determine where it could best fit and what would be its future.

Research will continue to be carried out and such research will be published because it is important it be made public, but both groups have a good history of commissioning and publishing research. I expect them to initiate research into issues that may not have been examined previously because it is important, from a policy point of view, that we would have evidence based policy to support what we are trying to do.

One of the areas in which they have been excellent is ensuring that the voice of poverty is heard and they have worked directly with people. That has meant that if there are 300 people at a social inclusion forum in Croke Park or one is attending a high level international meeting in Brussels, we have the direct participation of people experiencing poverty because the Combat Poverty Agency works with them and it does that very well. I will ensure that work continues as I consider that to be part of the brief of the new unit.

Senator Boyle asked about the name of the new unit. One might say the name of it is unimportant, but it is important because it must capture the work the unit will do. When I recently met the board of Combat Poverty Agency, subsequent to the decision, its members suggested that it might be a good idea in the preparatory six months prior to the establishment of the new integrated unit to examine and work together to determine what best will sum up its work. There has been great co-operation with the board and while, naturally, the staff are anxious about some issues, we are working through those with them. I am satisfied that by giving a six months period, which is what is built into the legislation, we will be able to support them and to ensure that we get a smooth transition and the type of the unit we all want. The aim of combating poverty will still remain as the overall aim of the new unit. There may not be a specific agency to do it, but combating poverty is the important objective.

The back to education allowance was the second issue raised by a number of Senators. One of the most encouraging features of the CSO figures published recently regarding the live register etc. — unfortunately, there are not that many encouraging figures — is a 24% increase in the participation rate in the back to education allowance. That is encouraging. The facilitators working in the Department's local offices throughout the country do great work in making people aware of the opportunities available to them. I envisage that, not only through formal education at second level, further education and third level but also through increased participation on FÁS courses next year, we can target more people and support them through education, which is after all the best way out of poverty and the best way into employment.

Some Senators raised issues about the importance of the carer's allowance and supporting pensioners, particularly through the fuel allowance. The €2 increase in the allowance, while welcome, paled in comparison to the welcome given by older people for the additional two weeks' payment of the allowance. They appreciated that more than the increase in the amount of the allowance. It means that the fuel allowance will be given from the end of September to the end of March. It is designed to support its recipients as much as possible.

In regard to child benefit, in all other matters an 18 year old is considered an adult. Child benefit rates have been quite generous in recent years, but in the current economic climate when we have been trying to find savings it made sense to examine those areas where changes would not cause undue hardship to people whose families were in education or leaving education. In doing that, we found that more than 70% of students were under the age of 18 when they completed their leaving certificate. Another group of students would have reached the age of 18 in the few months leading up to their leaving certificate. Therefore, there is no danger of people dropping out of school because of a cut in child benefit payments. The figures I gave are based on those who did the leaving certificate this year. Others who are carrying on into further education and higher education will qualify for maintenance grants and can be supported in that way.

At the time the early childhood allowance was introduced it was a very generous scheme. One was paid for each quarter, in other words, if one's child was not born until March, one received a payment for January and February and ended up receiving a payment before one's child was born. If one's child was six years of age in January, one ended up getting the payment for the three months in the quarter. A substantial saving is to be made by paying the allowance monthly. Although the compulsory school age is six years of age, only a small minority of children are not in school by the age of five and a half. Some children around the county are in school from the age of four. We will still look after the target group of families requiring child care.

Those are the key issues speakers mentioned. I accept other issues came up but I am conscious that the Seanad has a long list of issues to discuss tonight. I appreciate the time provided to facilitate the debate and its structure.