Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to discuss this legislation on Second Stage. There are major anomalies in the entire social welfare budget, particularly with regard to self-employed people. The legislation proposes changes that will not address any of the difficulties being faced by people in self-employment.

In the past ten years this country has seen an exodus of people who were formerly employed in manufacturing jobs and in the construction sector in particular. Many of those people were self-employed and, as a result of the social welfare rules that govern the area of PRSI contributions and the class of contribution paid by self-employed persons, they find themselves unable to draw down a social welfare payment. That is wrong and this Bill does nothing to address that particular query.

That is an issue faced by small fishermen, regardless of whether they own the vessel, and even men who have small fishing vessels with a crew. For Revenue reasons the crew members are defined as being self-employed. I will give the Minister an example. Even though those persons can be sacked by the owner or the skipper of the vessel, for social welfare and Revenue purposes they are deemed to be self-employed. When they are sacked they have no entitlement whatsoever to a social welfare payment. That is wrong.

That is only one example of persons who are self-employed. Many of the people who were self-employed were working for themselves and employing people during the economic boom. Now, due to the lack of employment and the anomalies in the social welfare system, they are being forced to leave the country. They have no alternative because they have no source of income, and this Bill does nothing to address that. That is one of the reasons we are opposing this legislation.

As politicians we are moving from a culture where a substantial part of our work was helping people obtain Government assistance by way of grant aid or whatever. That is fine because it is part of our role, but I find now that an increasing number of hours of my work are spent dealing with social welfare queries. The reason for that is simple. The application process is becoming unacceptably burdensome on individuals making applications. Genuine applications are being refused. The appeals mechanism is a disgrace. It is unacceptable, and it is happening on this Government's watch.

I have been dealing with a man who is suicidal. He cannot walk or work, yet the Minister's Department is telling him he can do both. Despite all the medical evidence having been sent in by consultants and doctors, it is not being accepted by the Minister's Department. Is it the case that the officials in the Minister's Department are being told to approve only a select number of applications or is it a type of game where one out of every 20 is picked? That seems to be what is happening because the medical evidence is not being accepted for genuine applications or for appeals being made.

I am genuine in raising that issue with the Minister. It may be an issue that arose in other Administrations but it is certainly happening under the watch of this Administration. Something must be done about it because how can I deal with representations from people who are thinking of committing suicide because they have no income whatsoever? They are being asked to pay the household charge, the property tax and they have to pay house insurance and so on but they simply do not have the money. They can go to the community welfare officer, and that is the response that comes back from the Minister's Department, but they do not qualify for an entitlement because their wives may be earning up to €300 a week. In terms of the household bills in the case I mentioned, the son and daughter are in college. There are fees associated with that and the income does not meet the demand. Something has to be done.

I know the Minister has to battle in Government with other Ministers at Cabinet level, and sometimes I pity her, but pity does not solve the problem. Something must be done and if it is not done quickly, the man about whom I speak, and others, will do something drastic that none of us should have to comprehend as public representatives. I am pleading with the Minister because this Bill does not touch on that at all. Applications and appeals must be dealt with within a minimum period and all the medical evidence must be taken into consideration for social welfare payments. That should be happening but it is not happening, and it must be dealt with. It is not directly related to this legislation but it is related to the Minister's brief. I greatly appreciate the Cathaoirleach's latitude in allowing me raise the issue.