Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

On illness and disability benefits and invalidity pension. A total of 300,000 people are on one form of illness support payment or other and they may have dependants and children. That equates to 16% of adults of working age.

That is a very high figure. Countries that we recognise as having good social welfare systems and that have reformed social welfare, such as Denmark, Holland and the Scandinavian countries, have changed from a passive system, where one qualifies for payment and is left alone forever, to an active system where we try to encourage people back to work. This applies in particular to illness benefits. The best international medical evidence and occupational health evidence is that, where people have had an illness and have been able to physically recover, what most helps their recovery is to get back to work and to be in an active environment with work colleagues. They may not be able to do so on a full-time basis but the evidence from doctors in recent years points this way. We have not had that in our system. Much of my focus is to say that the social contract in Ireland is that people will be supported if they lose their jobs, fall ill or have a disability. Taxpayers and citizens want to see a solid system of social support but it is a two-way contract. Equally, the other side of the contract is that the people receiving income support are obliged, on behalf of their fellow citizens and taxpayers, to do their best to get themselves back to work and to become financially independent. That is a cultural change we require.

Regarding Senator MacSharry's point, I was astonished to see that, at the height of the Celtic tiger, some 100,000 extra people went onto various illness benefit payments. No one has explained to me-----