Tom Shehan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I wish to raise the issue of access to the Safe Pass for the unemployed. A man came to me recently who had been unemployed for a year and a half but who luckily got a job for nine months on a building site because he had his Safe Pass on the day of hiring. He is a qualified driver of one of the highest types of crane. The man, who has a wife and three children, wants to work. He got his nine months' work but since then has been unemployed for several months. He wants to go back to work but his Safe Pass has expired. He went to the Department of Social Protection to renew it and he understood the Department would fund that. However, this does not seem to be the case. He was told the Department would renew the pass when he returned on having got a job but, unfortunately, nobody in the construction industry will hire anyone who does not have a Safe Pass. The man has been toing and froing with his local welfare officers, etc., but is still in limbo. He cannot afford to renew the pass himself and the Department seems to be unwilling to do so.

Recently, the man was offered a job that is to commence in the near future. He went back to the Department of Social Protection and it wanted to know the day on which he would be starting so as to go about the task of renewal but he could not give the date. If he specified the date, he would lose his social welfare benefits from that date with no guarantee that the job would start then.

There is no guarantee about when the job will start. If it does not start, we all know what it is like when one must reapply for social welfare. One can wait anything from six to 12 weeks for a payment. To me the solution is blatantly obvious. I imagine I am speaking for many other people, but this man is positively looking for work. He has a possibility of work but he will not get the work unless he has a Safe Pass card but he will not get the card from the Department unless he has a job. Let us have a meeting of minds. The solution is very simple. Will somebody kick the bucket and renew his Safe Pass? If that was done, this man would be off the live register and would be able to provide for his wife and children, which would be good.