Seanad debates

Tuesday, 6 December 2016

Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage

 

2:30 pm

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have not even got to the point where we have draft terms of reference for the report, but I would not envisage it just being about welfare dependency and poverty rates. We are interested to know what impact the changes have had on their participation in education and what type of work they have taken up. All this cannot be ascribed to the reforms that have been introduced because the economy has changed as well, but we are genuinely interested to gather this information for ourselves. The report will not be limited to welfare dependency and poverty rates.

We did not give detailed considered to the maintenance issue for this legislation. People should not be means tested against maintenance they do not receive. I acknowledge we discussed this previously and I would be concerned if that was happening. When people are means tested, they are tested against their actual income and not against income they do not receive. I would be happy to consider any proposals in this regard. I will have to check with my officials because it should not be the case that people are means tested against income they do not receive.

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