Seanad debates
Friday, 27 April 2012
Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2012: Second Stage
12:00 pm
Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)
I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on this social welfare legislation. Such legislation appears annually and we sometimes have two social welfare Bills per annum and they give rise to interesting debates. However, we debate social welfare and proposed changes in the aftermath of a budget or of the publication of a Bill and at that stage it is probably too late for any significant changes. I hope the Minister will take on board the suggestion that each year, well in advance of the budget - perhaps in September or October - we should organise debates on social welfare where the anomalies can be addressed and where various interest groups can have their concerns dealt with here in the House rather than at various committee meetings. A Department responsible for the spending of almost €21 billion must engage as fully as possible not just with the stakeholders, but with the broader public on how that money can be best spent. The social welfare budget is approximately 40% of the entire government budget. The major part of that spend is necessary, but we must consider how it can be better spent, how the schemes can be amended and what changes can be introduced. That debate must be ongoing rather than taking place only once or twice per annum when we have these kinds of set piece occasions when the decisions are already made. I hope the Minister will try to encourage greater and deeper debate on social welfare policy and spending throughout the year so that in advance of the budget the various political parties and lobby groups can get their proposals on the table.
The €20 billion plus being spent is necessary, but we must focus on how we can spend as much of that money as possible in supporting work and encouraging people to get back to work. I and many colleagues have often made the point that all Departments, no matter which, must try to ensure their budget moneys are used to create employment. Much of the money in the Department of Social Protection can be used to trigger, support and create employment. Schemes such as back to education schemes and the family income supplement play a role in both the education and job creation areas and we should focus on those.
I was not here for most of the debate this morning as I had other meetings, but I heard and watched some of the debate on the monitor. Much of the discussions has focused on section 4 and the proposals relating to lone parents. I look forward to the Minister's response on that. I am sure, having watched some of the Dáil debate, the Minister will remind us of what applies in other jurisdictions. We do not stand alone isolated from the world.
We must look at best practice and see how other countries are using similar schemes to support people from an income perspective. Even more importantly, we must examine how they support people to ensure that their future is not just one of social welfare and social income but hopefully entails their return to the jobs market and to a more independent type of living. My understanding is that most of our near neighbours have measures in place in respect of lone parent payments that are much closer to what the Minister is proposing to do than what we currently have in place. Her proposed changes would put us in the norm from a European perspective. I concede, of course, that child care provision is much greater in most other countries, and we must move in that direction.
The Minister must get credit for her willingness to reflect on the Bill at the time of its publication and for then seeing that further amendment was required. She has said that she will demand of the Government that additional supports be put in place for child care in the next budget. I look forward to the progress on that. When it is made, the changes the Minister hopes to introduce will be reasonable. We must try to live in the land of fiscal and political reality. I would wish dearly that the available funding was higher but the money is not there. We have yet to design a money-growing tree and I do not think it will happen this year. We have to make the most of what we have and use it as best we can. Unemployment support and pension support is very necessary but if the focus of this debate is to be on the lone parent sections - it is a topic worthy of debate - we have to try to see beyond what we have been doing over the past 20 or 30 years.
From a minimal financial perspective, we have been genuinely supportive of lone parents. However, if our only aspiration for lone parents is to provide them with a sufficient living income and hope that they will remain politically silent, that is not good enough. We have to aim higher, and part of that is to ensure that the majority of lone parents are given an opportunity by way of child care and alternative schemes to get back to work and to see a future beyond welfare in the workplace. That debate is only beginning and it must be substantial. We will come back to this on Committee Stage. I look forward to what my colleagues have to say. It is interesting and that is why I would like to have this debate in October or November in advance of the crisis, rather than as part of post-crisis talks.
I support this Bill. I support what the Minister is doing. She is a thinking Minister who is willing to be flexible and who is trying to spend our limited resources in a constructive and proactive fashion.
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