John Kelly (Labour)

Promises were made to increase unemployment assistance to more than €200 per week, to increase the pension to €300 per week and to give medical cards to millionaires aged over 70. Unfortunately this must now be addressed.

Many things were done wrong in the past. People on social welfare benefit from free schemes attached to social welfare and do not have to make certain payments. We may have another impending crisis with regard to water rates and a property tax. An argument might be made that people on social welfare should not have to pay these. This will make it twice as difficult for a person on social welfare to be motivated to go to work. The same person on social welfare is probably better off than somebody on the minimum wage.

Fraud in social welfare is rife. Senator Moloney mentioned photo ID, which is a great idea but I do not know why we do not consider fingerprinting all of the citizens of the country. Any law-abiding citizen would be quite willing to be fingerprinted with regard to claiming social welfare. If a person is law-abiding there will be no issue with this. We should consider it.

Other Senators mentioned the self-employed and I have campaigned rigorously for the self-employed. The Minister is probably working on this issue at present. We need to return to how it was number of years ago when the self-employed could make a voluntary contribution. I hope she will fast-track this. I am convinced the small self-employed persons of years ago who are now unemployed will be those who will employ people and take them off the live register. Senator Power raised the issue of the State paying people to stay at home, one on which I have campaigned. Our generous social welfare system does not entice people to return to work. Given that it costs €21,000 per annum to keep someone on social welfare, why does the Government not introduce a new version of the back-to-work scheme and offer employers €10,000 per annum to take someone off the live register? If this mechanism created 100,000 jobs, it would save €1.1 billion each year, a figure that does not take account of additional revenue from taxation, PRSI and so forth.

Senator Moloney referred to the transfer of community welfare officers. The system is in crisis because the Department has asked community welfare officers, the most loyal and hardworking employees in the public service, to transfer to a Department about which they know very little. Moreover, they do not know what is in store for them in future. The Minister should meet a delegation of community welfare officers to discuss their future because they are not being kept informed by the Department.