Lorraine Higgins (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. Without doubt she has done enormous work since she went into the Department and took up her brief. Some of my colleagues in the Seanad Chamber have failed to realise the mess that she inherited and the number of people who were signing on for welfare payments when she first became the Minister, and subsequently.

Over the summer period I had cause to be in my constituency of Galway East and met a number of people who work in the business community. A lot of them acknowledged that their businesses are going well and feel as if they have turned a corner. They were particularly happy with her JobsPlus initiative. There are also the Intreo offices that she opened in Galway, particularly in my constituency in Loughrea. I noticed that a common theme among the business owners was their reservation regarding people moving from welfare to work. Let me give an example. I met a lady who owns a coffee shop. She stated that she had noticed an upturn in the economy and that her business was going well. However, she said that she had great difficulty getting her staff to work extra hours and provide cover for a member of staff who was off on sick time or holiday time. One of her greatest barriers is the fact that her staff do not want to take on extra hours for fear of losing their family income supplement, rent allowance or single parent allowance. That is regrettable.

One cannot blame staff for opting for a more financially rewarding route. Perhaps the Minister can assist the small business community by introducing a sliding scale of benefits tailor-made for the individual in question. I understand such an initiative would create a heavy administrative workload. Surely a system of some description could be formulated within her Department that would enable people to take a lesser welfare payment one week because they are given more work. The Exchequer would benefit in two ways from such a scheme. The welfare due to the person would not have to be paid in full and the increased taxation would go to the Exchequer.

PRSI was another issue that arose. There was speculation that PRSI might be increased from 3% to 4.5% on foot of a report that was launched during the summer. I have spoken to a number of self-employed people who are delighted at the potential of being eligible for benefits if they fall ill or sick long term. However, other self-employed people find it very difficult to cope with, for example, paying high rates on their properties and making a lot of extra payments.

It is a difficult time for businesses. It would be an unnecessary burden on the sector if PRSI was increased to 4.5% as speculated. Instead of introducing a standard PRSI rate of 4.5% rate across the business community I ask the Minister to allow employers to opt in or opt out of this benefit scheme. I ask the Minister to look at that in the context of the budget negotiations and the introduction of social welfare supports for the small business community and the self-employed.