Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join in the welcome to the Minister and congratulate him on his portfolio, which is crucial to building a fair, equal and harmonious society. That he has been proactive from the beginning in a number of spheres is welcome. In his opening remarks, the Minister suggested it would be helpful if we tried to address specific issues that might impact on his pre-budget work, so I will attempt to do that.

I am happy to endorse the concept of restoring the full Christmas bonus and I appreciate that the Minister is working at Cabinet level to do that. That is important for myriad reasons that do not bear repetition, other than that it gives older people the dignity to be able to buy presents for their grandchildren at Christmas. It goes straight back into the economy. It is just one of the nice things we have and it should be restored.

I agree with our official spokesperson, Senator Ray Butler, in his call for the self-employed to achieve the proper PRSI benefits. I am aware it will involve quite an amount of work but I support the concept. We all know from our clinic work, as practising public representatives, that many self-employed persons were left in a very bad place during the recession. I am happy that dental benefit is to be restored.

An issue I commend for priority attention is the carer's allowance. The carer's allowance has huge potential, more than is realised in keeping people out of hospital and leaving them where they want to be, in their own home. It reduces hospital waiting lists, which is hugely necessary as the Minister is aware from his previous brief. It reduces unemployment in that people become full-time carers. It has all those social progressive benefits. I suggest an increase in the carer's allowance payment. I commend it as one of the payments that needs a dramatic hike. I am not saying the payment is bad but everything should be done to make it an attractive option. I believe it is more than cost-neutral given the benefit of not institutionalising people. I commend an increase in the amount of carer's allowance per week and that carers receive more fringe benefits, much of which can be cost neutral. I suggest all the possible fringe benefits be given to them to make it an attractive option. It should be recognised as an attractive career option.

It is disturbing to discover from our clinic work of a 20-week wait for the processing of carer's allowance applications. Whatever is needed, be it human resources, should be provided to address the issue because it does not send a good signal to our carers. We need to let them know we value them. They are the front-line people.They are today's patriots. I would like to see something done about that and I am hopeful that the Minister will address it.

Intreo offices were a great development. I suggest that the Minister maintain an interest in that area because we need a carrot-and-stick approach. The carrot obviously involves training, retraining and education but, unfortunately, when people do not co-operate there has to be a punitive dimension, although that is not the objective. Getting people into jobs can bring them out of the cycle of poverty, and we have achieved great records in that, as the Minister enunciated in his speech.

JobBridge was good. I know the Minister is reviewing the scheme, but the fact is that 15,000 people got jobs from it and my personal experience of those involved in it was that it was good. One hears of horrible scare stories, and the system has to be policed, but I commend the Minister and ask him to keep the scheme more or less intact.

I represent people right across the country. There is a Common Agricultural Policy dimension to social protection, which I know is not part of the Minister's brief but on which he might elucidate. The rural social scheme is a community employment scheme for those in receipt of farm assist. It has done enormous good in communities and, more particularly, for the individuals in the scheme. I have personal experience of the scheme. I have attended party meetings in isolated areas in County Cavan at night where people have told me they have to be up for work in the morning. They are proud and delighted that they have to go to work. It is great from every perspective. Perhaps people could visit elderly people who are lonely and redecorate their houses. I ask the Minister to take a personal interest in the scheme and consider what can be done to maintain and increase its availability. It is a great piece of social engineering. I appreciate the opportunity to make a few suggestions.