Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank all Senators who facilitated the passing of Senator Boylan's Bill on Second Stage last night. The Bill seeks to remove the discriminatory policy of treating housing assistance payment, HAP, as income for people applying for civil legal aid. The Bill forced the hand of the Government and I commend Senator Boylan on introducing it. It will ensure that survivors of domestic abuse will have fair access to civil legal aid.

As has been mentioned, the economic recovery plan will be published today. I remind Senators that young people have to pay the same price for food, accommodation, transport and so forth. The fact that they are on lower social welfare rates puts them more at risk of poverty and economic hardship. It gives me no pleasure to say that it was a Labour Party Minister who cut the rates, and they have not been restored by successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments. At present, people aged 18 years to 24 years receive the reduced jobseeker's payment rate of €112.70 per week. This week, my colleague in the Dáil, Sinn Féin's spokesperson on social protection, Deputy Kerrane, spoke out on the Government's failure to publish a report on the poverty impact of reduced rates of jobseeker's allowance for young people. The report is now a year overdue. Current reduced rates of jobseeker's allowance for young people are far too low to support even a minimum standard of living, which is set at €250. That the Government is dragging its heels suggests that the poverty impact assessment has underlined what we already know.

The pandemic has affected young workers most. Recent Central Statistics Office, CSO, results show that 59% of young people aged from 15 years to 24 years were unemployed in March. This represents one of the highest levels of youth unemployment we have ever seen. It is not good enough that young people are also subject to shocking rates of social welfare support. I call on the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, to publish that poverty impact assessment. The National Youth Council of Ireland, NYCI, has consistently stated that the imposition of a lower rate of jobseeker's allowance on people under the age of 24 years is contrary to Article 40.1 of the Constitution. It must be restored immediately. We cannot exit the pandemic with young people on lower rates of social welfare. They have the same cost of living, same cost of food and the same cost of transport. It is even more for housing.