Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important Bill. The Labour Party has been advocating for an increase in the qualifying limits for the fuel allowance over many years. My office has dealt with applicants who were just a few cent over the limit. I welcome the move by the Minister to increase those limits. The reaction in my office has been positive and the number of applications we are assisting people with is increasing by the day.

There were some queries about the fuel allowance. The first was in relation to people who have moved from jobseeker's benefit to the community employment scheme, CE. I am dealing with a case, and I am aware of other cases, where a person on the CE service support stream still does not qualify for the fuel allowance. Perhaps the Minister could look at that case if I send the details on to the Department. It seems unfair that person has lost out over a number of years and they still do not qualify for the fuel allowance.

I also want to raise another issue regarding the fuel allowance which I have raised with the Minister, as have my colleagues in the Labour Party. It concerns the situation where a person in a house has a child in receipt of social welfare who is still living with them. They are also out of the loop when it comes to the fuel allowance. My colleagues raised this recently with the Minister but the response did not give much hope for those families. In many cases, the family member leaves the home, goes onto a housing list and even receives the housing assistance payment, HAP. Surely, in a housing crisis, we should allow the fuel allowance payment to be paid to families who continue to provide a roof over their children's heads. They are losing out on the warmer home scheme, as well as the fuel allowance. It is a growing worry for many. I ask the Minister to revisit that situation.

The Minister agreed to look at how the community welfare officer, CWO, system is currently operating following an amendment from my colleague, Deputy Sherlock, on Committee Stage in the Dáil. I, too, want to raise the need for an urgent review. Increasingly, I am hearing Ministers say that the CWO service is a back-up to the cost-of-living crisis being experienced by many at this time. In the past, I would have agreed that the service, where one could call into a community welfare officer, was a good one. However, the centralised service, as it currently stands, is not working and is not what I and a growing number of public representatives believe is needed at this time. These centralised hubs are taking four to six weeks and longer to provide a decision on an exceptional needs payment. I am informed that community welfare officers are not seeing the applications until the final stages and this is causing problems.

I thank all of the community welfare officers I have dealt with over the last 16 years or so in public life. They certainly made my job and that of many public representatives a lot easier because they understood the most vulnerable. The situation now is that direct contact seems to be frowned upon and those relationships which benefitted everybody are no longer there. In recent examples from one part of the service, I heard about bereaved families receiving multiple funeral grant forms even when they had already submitted the exact information the new letter demanded. One can imagine the continued heartache receiving those forms caused. Once those people were in direct contact with the community welfare officer, that solved this sensitive situation. Those working relationships are vital. I ask the Minister to look at this situation again.

I welcome, as have colleagues, the increase in the domiciliary care allowance. I also agree with colleagues about filling out the form, which it is difficult and complex. It is something we discussed with the Minister and officials at the Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands.

I wish to raise the issue of the means test and carer's allowance, which I raised with the Minister previously at that committee and in this House. The Minister has acknowledged the 24-7 care so many carer's allowance recipients carry out on behalf of the State on many occasions. I acknowledge the once-off payment of €500 in the recent budget, but we need to look at the means test again. Through engagement in the social protection committee and the Joint Committee on Autism, I have spoken to many families who are getting a reduced weekly rate, yet the cost of their care for their loved ones has increased dramatically. Many are not in a position to work as the care they give is 24-7 and they are struggling. These families need to receive the full carer's allowance payment. I would appreciate if the Minister and the Department look at this in the coming year.

Last month the Minister joined us in this House for Second Stage of the Labour Party Private Members' Bill on surviving co-habitants. I wish to raise this important Bill with the Minister again. Since debating the Bill on Second Stage in the House, many people have contacted me regarding their circumstances and the fact they do not qualify for a widow's or widower's contributory pension. The last contact I had was from a lady in my area yesterday who received a letter from the Department seeking her marriage certificate. Her partner of more than 20 years passed away a number of months ago. They never married but were in a loving relationship for that time. I ask the Minister and the Department to keep this under urgent review. I know the Minister has committed to that over the coming year.

Again, I thank the Minister for joining us tonight.The Social Welfare Bill is extremely important for so many in this country. I look forward to working with the Minister on progressing it.