Marie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister back to the House for the second day in a row. I thank the Sinn Féin Members for facilitating yesterday's debate on youth unemployment and the youth guarantee. I commend the Minister on her efforts to move social welfare from a passive system to an organisation that activates people to work. I know from experience in my area that the new office in Killarney is working well. I have been in touch with many of the new social welfare officers who tell me to send people down to them because they are there every Tuesday evening. An appointment is not necessary. Many people are not aware of what is available for them but the new system is working well.

Like Senator Zappone I will confine my remarks to certain issues today because we will have more time to debate the Bill in detail next week. I welcome the broadening of the PRSI base. Every time we speak about funding we seem to use hospital consultants as an example. Earlier today we had a lengthy debate with the Minister for Health on the lack of hospital consultants. Although he argued that money does not tie a person to a country or a job, I am afraid that it has a significant influence. Senator Healy Eames asked why this was not applied previously. I understand that a ceiling formerly applied to the income subject to PRSI and an individual was not liable for PRSI on earnings above that ceiling. I welcome that provision is being made to address that issue. It is anticipated that the change will yield up to €12 million per annum. Will that money be reinvested in the social insurance fund or will it be spent elsewhere? I would welcome any measure that builds up the social insurance fund, which has been raided over the years because the money was badly needed.

The jobseeker's transition allowance is a welcome measure, particularly in respect of parents who are about to come off the one-parent family payment. Activation is the key word in this regard. Many parents, including working couples as well as lone parents, find they have to give up work in order to look after their children. As they might be able to access part-time jobs, it would be welcome if the allowance could apply in those circumstances. They are currently disqualified from applying for jobseeker's benefit or allowance because they are not available for full-time work. I recognise there is more pressure on families with lone parents than on those with two parents but the problem exists for both types of family.

Last year, the Minister announced that she would not make changes to the one-parent family payment unless proper, safe, cheap and accessible child care was put in place. I accept that she has started the ball rolling in this regard. However, I am of the view that what is proposed in the legislation represents another step towards putting in place child care of the sort to which the Minister previously referred because parents will now be available to mind their children when they have finished school for the day. There is no better place for a child to be than in the safe hands of his or her parents. In a way and albeit by a different method, the Bill before the House is putting additional child care in place.

I am aware that the Minister has proposals regarding changes to family income supplement in respect of lone parents who are working. Those who lose their one-parent family payments and who are receipt of family income supplement cannot have their cases reviewed for one year. In other words, once the decision is made it obtains for 12 months. I know the Minister had proposals to introduce changes which would allow for a mid-term review in this regard. That is most welcome because I have come across many lone parents whose payments have been reduced either as a result of the income they receive for part-time work increasing or because they have lost their entitlement to those payments. The family income supplement paid to such individuals could not be adjusted to take account of these reductions and, in such circumstances, the Minister's proposals are very welcome. Perhaps she might make arrangements to bring forward those proposals as quickly as possible in order that they might be implemented.

I live in a rural area and retained firefighters are extremely important. There is no doubt about that. It is actually sad that it has taken 40 years for us to reach our current position. Successive Governments of various hues were responsible for failing to take action on this matter. We are all, therefore, to blame for the fact that this matter has not been dealt with previously. Fair play to the Minister, however, because she is prepared to take action and make changes. It is essential that firefighters should live in close proximity to their fire stations. They must be able to get to those stations quickly in order that all the necessary personnel can travel to the scene of an emergency as fast as possible. The distance which firefighters must travel to their stations definitely has a bearing in this regard.

On the penalty rates, will the Minister outline whether there are exemptions for people who are the subject of activation measures? If a person is sick and cannot attend for activation, then he or she would obviously be on a different payment. Are there any reasons that people do not make themselves available for activation?

In the context of fraud, I visited my local office in the company of the Minister a couple of weeks ago and we were informed in detail about the photographic identification required of clients. What technology makes possible is absolutely fantastic. For example, the technology they are using now allows local offices to make exact photographic representations of individual clients' faces and this means it is not possible for others to present in their place. Perhaps last year or the year before someone suggested that clients' fingerprints should be taken and people were up in arms about this. However, fingerprinting is becoming a way of life and my husband and his work colleagues are obliged to present at fingerprint readers on their way into work each day. We will watch this space in order to see what happens.