Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. A lot of work has clearly been done on social welfare reform and this is yet another step on the journey. I welcome the Bill, particularly in the context of the Fine Gael making work pay policy, which was recently published.

When considering this Bill we must also consider the backdrop against which it is set. There is no question that, even during the years when we had full employment and rapid economic growth before the economic implosion, Ireland has suffered from high levels of jobless households and consistent child poverty. The long-term unemployed, one-parent families, those with disabilities and others who found it difficult to access work were simply abandoned on the dole queues until this Government started to overhaul the social welfare system.

There can be no question that the prioritisation of benefits over services has resulted in a culture that has locked in consistent poverty and poor outcomes for people. For example, Ireland pays out one of the highest rates of child benefit in the developed world yet still has one of the highest rates of child poverty. How can this be? Why do some want to maintain the status quo? We should be working to create a society in which work pays for families. Recent research has revealed that households with someone at work make up 9% of all those who are categorised as being in consistent poverty. This is not acceptable and it is vital we all ensure that work always pays. In that context the main purpose of this Bill is to provide for the introduction of the back-to-work family dividend scheme, announced in budget 2015 and discussed by other Senators, in order to help jobseekers with families and lone parents return to work.

The provisions in the Bill which are attracting most attention deal with the introduction of the new back-to-work family dividends. The rationale behind this is to ensure that families getting back to work do not find themselves financially at a disadvantage in the short-term. As such, the back-to-work family dividend will help jobseekers with families and lone parents to return to work by allowing them to retain the element of the social welfare payment which they receive for their children for up to two years. These payments can vary over a two-year term and could be worth €2,324 in the case of a one-child family, €4,649 in the case of a two-child family and so on. Nevertheless, the intent is clear - to ensure no family is at a disadvantage as a consequence of going back to work.

The authentication and verification of a person's identity when they appear to collect their payment is something that has been brought up regularly during the last decade and this Bill seeks to address it. This has been perceived as a significant issue in recent years and I am satisfied that this Bill seeks to remedy some of the weaknesses. For example, it will distinguish a person presenting at a post office for payment on his or her own behalf from a person who has been nominated to collect a social welfare payment on behalf of another person and a person who has been appointed to act on behalf of another person who has been certified by a registered medical practitioner as being unable to manage his or her own financial affairs. From now on, where a person presents for payment on his or her own behalf, that person must provide identification at the post office in the form of a valid passport, current driving licence or other identity validation document.This is a worthwhile provision and, in addition, where a person has been nominated to collect a social welfare payment on behalf of another person, the person presenting for such a payment must provide evidence that he or she has been nominated to receive the payment on behalf of that other person, while also being subject to the requirement to provide the public service card and other relevant documentation. The Bill is well thought out legislation that will modernise our social welfare system. The long overdue transformation of the social welfare system into a modern work activation service is a good thing. All jobseekers should have access to the best available support to aid their return to work. The Bill accomplishes it and I am happy to support it.