Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

Ba mhaith liom a rá ar dtús báire go n-aithníom go maith na riachtanais atá ag na daoine atá dífhostaithe faoi láthair. Tuigim go maith freisin go bhfuil go leor dreamanna eile ag brath ar an mbuiséid leasa shóisialaigh - daoine le míchumas, cúramóirí agus pinsinéirí. Ba mhaith liom a dheimhniú don Teach go ndéanfaidh an Rialtas ár seacht ndícheall chun aire a thabhairt do na daoine leochaileacha sa tír. As Minister for Social Protection, I am very conscious of the needs of unemployed people. I also fully understand a wide range of other groups such as people with disabilities, carers and pensioners depend on the welfare budget for vital support. The Government, in a very tough budgetary environment, will continue to do its utmost to protect the most vulnerable in society.

The requirements of the Department of Social Protection highlight just how important it is to have the finances stable. In the next five years the Department will spend over €100 billion, all of which will have to be raised by taxation or, in the short term, by borrowing. Obviously, any borrowings will have to be repaid by the taxpayer at some time in the future. It is clear that if the Government failed to ensure the finances were sustainable, the Department with the largest Vote and its clients would be the first to suffer. The Government will make sure we will provide this money and support. It is up to other parties to explain how their policies would maintain the same level of commitment to social welfare clients.

The Government is proud of its unrivalled record in increasing the level of social welfare payments. Over the past 12 years, we have increased pension rates by about 120%, unemployment benefits by almost 130% and child benefit payments by over 330%. The cost of living has increased by about 40% over the same period. We extended coverage, removed barriers and increased entitlements such that the level and extent of social support payments has been transformed beyond recognition.

Continuing to reflect the trend of recent years and reaffirming Government's commitment to all those in need of support, €20.9 billion will be spent by the Government in 2010 on social welfare provision, some €500 million or 2.45% more than 2009. One of the priorities I have been given in my Department is to place a particular focus on job activation. The new Department brings a joined-up approach to looking at job activation in its wider context with income support. The biggest concern in many households around the country is the issue of jobs. Job activation and the provision of meaningful work activity for unemployed people are a central part of An Taoiseach's reasons for setting up the new Department of Social Protection and the amendments involving the work schemes and employment services moving into a single Department form part of our commitment to targeting the day to day needs of unemployed people.

In that regard the Bill provides for the transfer of the rural social scheme and the community services programme to me as Minister for Social Protection. It also contains provisions to endow me as Minister for Social Protection with the necessary statutory powers on employment services and community services programme of FÁS, and subsequently to transfer the related funding.

There are changes to jobseeker's allowance, jobseeker's benefit and supplementary welfare allowance in certain circumstances. Unemployment among the young is a particular concern for the Government. We want to encourage them to stay close to the labour market while at the same time providing a rate of assistance that compares very well with other jurisdictions, particularly with payments in the counties of Northern Ireland and in Great Britain. The Minister for Finance in his Budget Statement announced the introduction of certain targeted changes in jobseeker's allowance and supplementary welfare allowance. Specifically, he announced that the rate would be reduced to €150 per week where job offers or activation measures have been refused.

In order to incentivise participation in training and education programmes and programmes provided under the National Employment Action Plan, referred to as the NEAP, the rates of jobseeker's allowance, jobseeker's benefit and supplementary welfare allowance are being reduced where a person, without good cause, refuses to participate in a course of training arranged by this Department or FÁS, or refuses to participate in any NEAP process. When commenced, these measures will work in tandem with the integration of FÁS functions into my Department, and other initiatives such as customer profiling, as part of a strong focus on employment. The Government's aim is to ensure that, despite the high number currently on the live register, long term systemic unemployment and welfare dependency will not be allowed to take hold.

Under the measure a penalty of €46 will be applied to the individual's headline rate of jobseeker's allowance, jobseeker's benefit or supplementary welfare allowance if he or she refuses or fails to avail of a suitable activation measure. Penalty rates of €35 and €25, respectively, will apply in the case of younger jobseekers already on reduced rates of €150 and €100 per week. The application of this measure to those under 25 may appear harsh but clear evidence is emerging that the reduced rates have been very successful in incentivising young people to take up training and education. Therefore, I want to ensure the small but significant cohort which refuses these opportunities cannot continue to remain outside the activation process. It is essential that these young people avail of training and employment opportunities and therefore we are increasing the financial incentive for them to do so.

In keeping with the focus on activation, I stress these rates will only apply where the primary social welfare payment relates to jobseeking and no other schemes come under the scope of these provisions. In addition, primary payments only are affected and rates for child and adult dependants, where payable, remain unchanged if a claimant is subject to a penalty rate. I am also bringing forward a new provision for full disallowance where a jobseeker has refused an offer of suitable employment. This provision is intended to strengthen the existing legislative provision whereby full disallowance may be imposed if the recipient is not genuinely seeking work. This will not alter the position of the majority of jobseeker's allowance and jobseeker's benefit recipients. I am also providing a specific disqualification for receipt of jobseeker's benefit where the person is attending a full-time day course of study. This mirrors an existing disqualification for receipt of jobseeker's allowance where a person is attending a full-time day course of study.

The Bill also provides for changes to the one-parent family payment. The Government believes that the current arrangements, whereby a lone parent can receive the one-parent family payment until the child is 18, or 22 if in full-time education, without any requirement for them to engage in employment, education or training are not in the best interests of the parent, the children or society. Despite improvements made to the one-parent family payment over the years and significant spending on supports to lone parents, a large proportion of lone parents and their children are still experiencing poverty. The child of a lone parent is four times more likely to be in consistent poverty than the population overall.

In general, the best route out of poverty is through employment. We recognise that work, and especially full-time work, may not be an option for parents of young children. However, we believe that supporting parents to participate in the labour market, once their children have reached an appropriate age, will improve both their own economic position and the social well-being of themselves and their families.

The Department has undertaken a comprehensive review of the one-parent family payment and developed proposals which are designed to prevent long-term dependence on welfare and facilitate financial independence, recognise parental choice with regard to the care of young children but the expectation that parents will not remain outside the labour force indefinitely and include an expectation of participation in education, training and employment with supports provided.

To meet these social policy objectives, I am introducing the changes outlined to the one-parent family payment in section 25 of the Bill. For new customers, from 2011, it is proposed that the one-parent family payment will be made until the youngest child reaches the age of 14. The Bill as published provided that one-parent family payment would be made until the youngest child reached the age of 13 but having given the matter further consideration and having listened to the contribution of Deputies during the course of the debate on the Bill in the Dáil I decided to change the age to 14. The majority of new customers for the one-parent family payment are parents of new born babies; therefore the changes in the payment from next year will not affect them until 2025, when their youngest child reaches his or her 14th birthday.

For existing customers there will be a tapered six-year phasing out period to enable them to access education and training to prepare them for their return to the labour market. Therefore, the age 14 cut-off point will only come into effect for existing customers six years from now in 2016. For existing customers, the age 18 cut-off point will remain for 2011 and 2012. In 2013 it will be 17 years, in 2014 it will be 16 years, in 2015 it will be 15 years and in 2016 it will be 14 years.

If the child is in full-time education there is also a special provision for existing one-parent family payment recipients. In this case, payment will continue until the end of the 2012-13 academic year or until the child reaches age 22, whichever is the earlier. To encourage participation in education and employment, from the enactment of the Bill up to the end of 2016, existing customers who leave the scheme to take up employment or a course of education will be allowed back on the scheme under the new age conditions of the phasing out six-year period if they subsequently lose their job or their scheme of education finishes. When the youngest child reaches the age of 14 years, if the parent is still in need of income support, he or she could claim jobseeker's allowance or another appropriate income support payment, or if in employment, family income supplement. Under the reformed scheme, there will be a special provision for families with children, for whom domiciliary care allowance is paid. They will receive one-parent family payments until their children reach 16 years of age, at which point the children can claim disability allowance in their own right. There is also a special provision for married and cohabiting persons who have been recently bereaved and who have children aged 14 years or older. These individuals will receive the payment for up to two years or until their youngest children reach 18 years of age to enable them to come to terms with their changed circumstances.

The Government is conscious that many lone parents will need access to education, training and enabling services such as child care provision in order to acquire the skills they will need to gain employment. A wide range of education and training opportunities are available through my Department, the Department of Education and Skills and FÁS to lone parents to strengthen their qualifications and skills base and thus maximise their chances of gaining employment.

With regard to child care, the Government invested €1 billion during the past decade in developing a child care infrastructure. As a result, some 65,000 child care places will be available this year. A revised community child care subvention scheme is due to be introduced in September. This scheme will have a labour activation focus and strengthen the child care supports available to lone parents. Importantly for lone parents, after-school services and homework clubs are to be included in the services provided.

Internationally, there is a general movement away from long-term and passive income support. In the United Kingdom, for example, lone parents are required to seek work when their youngest child reaches ten years of age. From October, the minimum age will be further reduced to seven years. In Norway, Sweden, Germany and Italy there is a work obligation when the youngest child reaches three years of age. It was initially proposed in the Government discussion paper, Proposals for Supporting Lone Parents, published in 2006, that a parental allowance would continue until the youngest child reached the age of seven years. However, 14 years is considered to be a more appropriate age for this change because the need for child care will lessen from that point as a result of children entering secondary school. This change to the one-parent family payment will bring Ireland's support arrangements for lone parents more into line with international provision. It must be noted that countries which achieve the best outcomes in tackling child poverty are those which combine strategies aimed at facilitating access to employment and enabling services with income support.

I will now outline the main provisions of the Bill. Section 3 sets out the rules to determine with whom a child normally resides for the purposes of social welfare payments, with the exception of child benefit. Section 4 provides for an amendment to the definition of spouse to include different sex cohabiting couples as spouse for the purposes of farm assist and pre-retirement allowance.

Section 5 provides for the inclusion of health contributions in the definition of contributions for the purposes of the four year limit on the return of contributions. Section 6 confers power to make regulations to provide for the conditions under which a person is regarded as being incapable of work for the purposes of qualification for the payment of illness benefit.

Section 7 provides for a specific disqualification for receipt of jobseeker's benefit where the person is attending a full-time day course of study. This mirrors an existing disqualification for receipt of jobseeker's allowance where a person is attending a full-time day course of study.

Section 8 corrects an omission from the Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Act 2009 and provides for the restoration of the full rate of payment for recipients of incapacity supplement who are aged 66 years and over. Sections 9, 11 and 13 clarify the provisions for the assessment of means where jobseeker's allowance, pre-retirement allowance and farm assist - dealt with in sections 9, 11 and 13, respectively - are in payment and where the claimant's spouse or partner is in receipt of family income supplement.

Section 10 provides for a number of technical amendments to section 142 of the principal Act to ensure consistency in treatment with regard to the increase payable for a qualified adult. It also provides for the deletion of obsolete provisions.

Section 12 provides for a technical amendment to section 211 of the principal Act to delete an obsolete provision in relation to disability allowance. Section 14 amends section 220 of the principal Act and sets out the rules to determine with whom a child normally resides for the purposes of entitlement to child benefit. Section 15 provides for an amendment to section 320 of the principal Act which deals with decisions of appeals officers.

Section 16 removes the limitation on the scope of the appeals process and provides that the Minister has the power to appeal a decision of the chief appeals officer to the High Court on a point of law. Section 17 is a technical amendment to Table 2 of Schedule 3 to the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 to remove obsolete references.

Sections 18 to 20, inclusive, provide for the payment of a reduced rate of jobseeker's allowance or jobseeker's benefit or supplementary welfare allowance where a person refuses to participate in an appropriate course of training or a programme under the national employment action plan. Sections 18 and 19 also provide for a specific disqualification from receipt of jobseeker's allowance or jobseeker's benefit where a person refuses an offer of suitable employment. Section 21 clarifies the circumstances in which the reduced rate of jobseeker's allowance is payable in the case of 18 to 21 year olds.

Section 22 allows the Minister to appoint persons other than serving staff to be appeals officers. The section will allow for the employment on a temporary basis of retired appeals officers as appeals officers to clear backlogs in the social welfare appeals office. The section gave rise to some concern on Committee Stage in the Dáil. In that context, I assure Senators that it is being introduced purely to enable me to employ on a temporary basis retired appeals officers to clear backlogs in the social welfare appeals office. There is a significant learning curve for appeals officers, when assigned. They must become familiar with the entire social welfare code and other legislation which may impact on entitlements such as employment law, administrative law, case law and EU law, as it affects social welfare entitlements. Experience shows that it takes up to two years for a new social welfare appeals officer to develop sufficient experience and knowledge to allow them to deal with most cases at full productivity. I am satisfied that the employment of retired appeals officers on a temporary basis is the most effective way to clear backlogs in the social welfare appeals office. Section 23 provides that the chief appeals officer and the deputy chief appeals officer must be officers of the Department.

Section 24 provides for a number of miscellaneous amendments to the principal Act, including the deletion of references to early child care supplement where they appear. Early child care supplement ceased to be payable on 1 December 2009.

Section 25 provides for the reduction, from 2011, of the qualifying age for receipt of one-parent family payment to when the youngest child reaches 14 years of age. It also provides for various transitional provisions for current recipients of the payment. Section 26 amends the provisions relating to domiciliary care allowance to ensure the operational practice is correctly reflected.

Molaim an Bille don Teach agus tá mé ag súil le bhur gcuid tuairimí a chloisteáil maidir leis na míreanna atá ann. I commend the Bill to the House. I look forward to having an informed debate on it and hearing Senators' views on the measures it contains.