Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all of those Senators who have contributed, including Senators Lombard, Craughwell, Ardagh, Wall, Warfield, Burke, Boylan, Dolan, Buttimer, Kyne, Currie, Cummins, Murphy and Ahearn. The social protection system is designed, as we know, to help people and ensure there is a safety net and baseline of income support, and that nobody falls under. Like all Members of the House, I meet people regularly through my constituency work who absolutely depend on their weekly social welfare payment. We are coming to the end of what has been an extraordinarily difficult year and the scale of the supports the Government has put in place this year is unprecedented but they were absolutely needed. Between Covid and Brexit we simply have not been able to do everything we wanted to do but in the circumstances we are in we have sought to target the resources where they are needed most. The measures in the Bill will seek to make the social protection system work better for people who are unemployed, pensioners, carers, people with disabilities and lone parents.

I thank all of the Members for the tributes and thanks to the staff and I will certainly pass them on to the staff in the Department and the wider social welfare staff up and down the length and breadth of the country. I appreciate all of the kind comments each Senator has made about the staff. To be honest, we are very proud of them and they have done a great job.

A number of questions have been asked and I will try to answer them as best I can. Senators Lombard, Boylan, Kyne and Murphy all mentioned the islands. I had the pleasure of visiting Arranmore during the summer. The previous year I was at a wedding on Clare Island. Even though I did not have responsibility at that stage I took the opportunity to speak to some of the local people on both occasions. There are certainly challenges when people are living on an island. The one that struck home for me is that when young people living on Arranmore want to go to the cinema, my goodness they really have to make the effort. They have to get a boat then a car and then drive the whole way to Letterkenny. I know this is to help certain categories of people on social welfare payments but I am very conscious that the islands are part of the whole country.Just because one must get on a boat to reach them does not mean that we should forget about them. I know Senator Kyne had responsibility for the islands prior to this and was very committed to them. He put a lot of effort and work into helping everybody there. I thank him for his comments.

Senators Craughwell, Burke and Kyne raised the issue of K class contributions for public representatives. Senator Craughwell also tabled an amendment that, unfortunately, I cannot accept but I will certainly give it consideration and will ask my officials to look at it. I agree with the Senators that some Senators and Deputies with young families who lost their seats earlier this year have been unable to get a job, possibly due to Covid, so have been left with no income. Regardless of what party they belong to, that is a very tough situation for people who have worked extremely hard and cannot even sign on for credits. People who lose their seats receive a severance payment, which must be considered when looking at the issue. The matter should be referred to an Oireachtas committee for consideration because whatever recommendations, and Senator Craughwell has a Private Members' Bill-----