Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am really glad that we are to finish on a positive note. I ask Senator Higgins to withdraw the amendment because very selfishly I will be unable to complete the passage of the Bill today if she does not. I share her views and concerns in the area.

In the coming days I will be able to furnish the Senator with a number of reports containing data of which she may not be already aware. With regard to the proposed section 32(a), our case-management and activation unit that we set up for JST at the end of 2016 has now had its second full year. I would like to provide the Senator with an analysis of how that case management has been effective in some areas and not effective in other areas so that we can learn what we need to change.

We will genuinely look at what is available to people. Different Departments have set policies that reach 98% of people's requirements but the last 2% does not allow something to be done because something needs to be accessed from a different Department. For example, our training model outlines a list of things that people can do on training. However, why can people not go back and do certain courses in NUI Maynooth, Trinity College or wherever just because they happen to be on Springboard or they happen to be from SUSI? There is no reason not to have cross-correlation.

I believe the Senator and I want the same thing which is that women - let us be honest that it is mainly women- during those years when their child is between seven and 14 are actually preparing for a career if that is what they want and not preparing to go and work for €9.55 an hour. I do not mean to diminish anybody who is working for €9.55 an hour. We need to ensure that they get continual training, support and employment opportunities to avail of €15 an hour or €55 an hour or whatever are their aspirations. While recognising that different families have different expectations, limitations, parameters, childminding services, all the wraparound services from a case-management perspective, support perspective and educational support perspective need to be determined within that seven- to 14-year age bracket, and it needs to be flexible. We are working on that.

On qualifying the data, the Senator knows Indecon prepared a report for us last year. It is a great report and cost an arm and a leg and I do not have any money to repeat it. However, I really think it would be valuable. We have asked Indecon to carry out a review. Its report looked at the changes made in 2012 and it went up to only 2016. I have asked it to do a review up to 2018, which gives us two more years of practice and the economy recovering. It also allows us to see the impact of the reversal of the cuts that were introduced at the same time as the policy was introduced in 2012 which made sure it could never be successful in its own right. I will give the Senator that report.

We should have that report by the end of quarter 2. As it is by Indecon it will be totally independent. It will take into account the changes in case management, the introduction of the disregards as in the reversal of the income disregards and hopefully the impact of QCI so that we can have a real reflective picture of what the aspirations of JST was to be in 2012 and what it could have looked like if we had not introduced all the cuts at the same time. I am doing that anyway.

Deputy Bríd smith brought my attention to the anomaly with foster carers. I do not know if the Senator spoke to her at about the same time. I need to look at this. If somebody is foster caring they cannot be presenting as a jobseeker because they already have a job looking after a child on behalf of the State. However, they should not be penalised from accessing the positive aspects of JST. We need to look at that and recognise that there are exceptions. There was another case of a lady whose child had grown up but she was fostering two young children on behalf of the State and we were penalising her.We need to look at foster carers as a separate group of service providers and very important people for the State. I will come back to the Senator six to eight weeks after Christmas with regard to the anomalies in foster care and what we can do to fix them.