Hildegarde Naughton (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I commend the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, and the Government on this Bill, which comes at one of the most difficult economic periods in the history of the State. The Bill reflects the Government's commitment to tackling poverty and protecting the most vulnerable in our society.

The fact that there are 34,000 extra people employed in Ireland means that there are 34,000 extra taxpayers rather than social welfare recipients. The Government's work during the past two and half years has enabled the Minister to do a difficult job in a balanced and fair manner.

As employment continues to increase, it will mean more people will move away from social welfare dependency and become taxpayers and contributors, which will ease the decisions that must be made in future budgets. The State pension, the carer's allowance, the fuel allowance, the electricity and gas allowance, free travel, the half-carer's allowance and the disability allowance have not been touched. Moreover, it is important to note that child benefit also has been protected and there has been no cut to the mobility allowance.

As I already have stated in this Chamber, the Government inherited a passive social welfare system that did not empower the people it was supposed to protect. During the period between 2005 and 2007, when the economy ostensibly was strong and the unemployment rate was at a very low level of between 4% and 5%, Ireland had a very low work intensity rate that oscillated between 13% and 15%, while the European Union average was just 10%. Research undertaken by the ESRI in 2012 indicated that a specific policy approach is required to address the issue of jobless households as even during the boom years of the early 2000s, the rate of joblessness at household level was very high by European standards. The ESRI concluded that this reflected structural factors that had little to do with the recession. A window of opportunity now exists for long-overdue reform of the social welfare structures, on which the Minister, Deputy Burton, is taking the lead through a range of initiatives including the roll-out of the Intreo offices, JobBridge initiatives, the European Union guarantee, the Tús scheme and the wage subsidy schemes for employers, as well as through the tackling of poverty traps such as, for example, the replacement of rent supplement with the housing assistance payment scheme.

There has been much comment about the ending of the bereavement grant and it is important to note the full facts in this regard. There are a number of additional supports available for people who have experienced a bereavement, such as the widowed or surviving civil partner grant, which is a once-off payment of €6,000 where there is a dependent child, or the provision of continued payment after death whereby the deceased person's payment continues for six weeks to his or her spouse or partner who also is in receipt of a weekly welfare payment. This can be worth up to €1,380, depending on the payment the deceased person had been receiving. If a person dies because of an accident at work or occupational disease, a special funeral grant of €850 is paid. For those with particular difficulties who are unable to afford to pay for the funeral, there is the possibility of an exceptional needs payment, which is means tested and for which the average payment made is €2,000. In 2012, the Department spent €2.5 million on such payments. These supports are still in place and I reiterate it is important to have all the facts. I agree with Senator Mooney that there is an onus on funeral homes to consider the cost of funerals and it is quite alarming that they can cost up to €10,000 in Dublin.

As for the telephone allowance for landline rental, I understand the Taoiseach has asked both Ministers, Deputies Burton and Hogan, to consult with Community Alert organisations to put in place a process by which security pendants can be used through a mobile telephone system. It is important that people still have the security of being able to contact a local Garda station through that pendant system and given the advances made in digital technology, this should be possible.

In order to incentivise young jobseekers to avail of education and training opportunities and to attempt to avoid the risk of such people becoming welfare dependent from a young age, the changes made to jobseeker's allowance rates in 2009 are being extended. This decision was made on foot of ongoing consideration of unemployment and incentives policy by the Government. It is not discriminatory but rather is a targeted measure aimed at protecting young people from welfare dependency. Receiving the full adult rate of a jobseeker's payment at a young age and without a strong financial incentive to engage in education or training, can lead to welfare dependency from an early age. If those concerned do not improve their skills, they are at risk of becoming long-term unemployed from a young age. Therefore, it is considered necessary to provide young jobseekers with a strong financial incentive to engage in education or training or to take up employment. All jobseekers aged between 18 and 25 who participate in back to education allowance schemes will receive €160 per week.

I commend the Minister on tackling fraud in the welfare system. It is crucial that social welfare is there to support those who need it most. People who abuse the welfare system are taking from the most vulnerable in our society. This demonstrates the up-front and fair approach the Minister is taking in managing our welfare system.

I am delighted to congratulate the Minister. I support this Bill.