Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 6:

In page 14, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following:“26. (1) The Minister shall review the operation of the Homemaker Scheme and the eligibility criteria for the State Contributory Pension and shall bring forward a report to the Joint Committee on Social Protection on same within 3 months of this Act being enacted.

(2) The Minister shall review the operation of the Family Income Supplement to see how it could be improved to encourage and facilitate people to re-enter the workforce and shall bring forward a report to the Joint Committee on Social Protection on same within 3 months of this Act being enacted.”.

Much of the information on this has been given by Senator Higgins and she spoke eloquently on it. I will go a little further and discuss the homemaker scheme and the homemaker disregard. Fianna Fáil Members of the Oireachtas have heard from many people, particularly women, who were shocked to learn upon retirement that they were not eligible for the full State contributory pension. The gap is 37%, as has been outlined already.Fianna Fáil believes the eligibility criteria for the contributory pension need to be reviewed. In particular, the operation of the homemaker scheme needs to be reconsidered to address the anomaly in calculating the contributory pension. At present, people who took time out of the workforce prior to 1994 to care for children or elderly relatives are disadvantaged. In many instances, their entitlement to the State pension is greatly reduced. Although Fianna Fáil recognises that amending the homemaker scheme would have significant costs and administrative implications, we believe consideration should be given to examining the feasibility of amending the method of calculating contributory pensions. The system already disregards time spent in the home since 1994 for the purposes of calculating the yearly average contributions. We should explore the feasibility of backdating this further, perhaps to 1973 or 1953.

This amendment also contains a proposal with regard to the family income supplement, FIS, scheme. Fianna Fáil acknowledges that FIS is a vital payment for low-income families. We believe the Minister should consider reviewing this payment to make it more effective than it already is. A number of suggestions are worth examining in this context, including a reduction in the number of hours of work required to qualify for this payment in the case of one-parent households. This should be done to recognise that those who are parenting alone need more flexible arrangements and that almost 59% of lone-parent households experience deprivation. We have to examine how the social welfare system is operating and how it can be reformed to make it more effective and responsive to the needs of those who rely on it. The method of calculating FIS payments is quite complex. There is no single rate. A rather complex method of calculation is used. It can be difficult for prospective applicants who are considering taking up employment to know what their FIS payments might be. Therefore, it is important to examine how FIS is calculated and how it can be simplified so that prospective applicants are more readily able to ascertain what their income from FIS and paid employment might be.

I ask the Minister to consider commissioning reports on both of these issues. I will probably not press this amendment today. No Senator has pursued the question of the gender pension gap today, but it is something we will have to pursue some day. I hope the Minister notes that.