Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is welcome as is the Social Welfare Bill. It is a far cry from what we faced back in 2011 to 2014 in terms of what we can do. We are doing things in this budget because they are the right things to do but also because we are in a position to do them, given the strength and management of the economy and the fact we have such strong tax receipts. A considerable number of beneficial changes were made with regard to the payment rates for social protection and I will touch on a few.

The pool of eligible participants for CE schemes throughout the country has been widened. Community employment schemes are the heart and blood of many communities throughout the country. The changes made to those schemes are to be welcomed. With regard to the PRSI thresholds in section 4, they are considerably beneficial in that the increase in the national wage will not the ability to benefit from the lower rate of employer PRSI. There have been increases in the rate for maternity, adoptive, paternity and parent's benefit, as well an increase in the rate of payments for self-employed persons while claiming jobseeker's benefit. There have been increases in the weekly income threshold to qualify for working family payments and a provision for the once-off payment for CE supervisors and assistant supervisors. The income disregarded for environmental schemes has been almost doubled under agricultural payments.

All of these are very welcome and will make a real difference to people's lives up and down the country. The Minister is to be commended on them as well as on the changes to the fuel allowance scheme. The fuel allowance has been expanded in order that older persons' households will receive the payment. The weekly income threshold for persons over 70 to qualify for the allowances are increasing significantly. The weekly income income threshold for people aged under 70 will significantly increase from €100 to €200 over the weekly rate of the State pension. All of these are very welcome changes that have been made under the Social Welfare Bill.

I will raise a couple of issues. One relates to rates for the school meals programme. I have raised this before. There is concern about the companies providing hot schools meals withdrawing from the system because they cannot make it pay. That is having an impact. The scheme is very worthwhile and benefits so many children up and down the country by making sure they have school meals. There has been no change to the rates for a number of years and with the extra cost of energy and everything else that has gone on, we have seen companies withdraw from provision of hot school meals. I ask the Minister to reply to that.

The other issue concerns free travel. I know we have had it for many years but I have come across a situation whereby pensioners and, indeed, anyone looking to book a seat online is being asked for an online booking fee. The fee can vary from €3 to €5. Even though the person is not paying for the seat, he or she is paying to book the seat on an online system. It is making a mockery of the free travel scheme. I will put on the record Irish Rail does not charge a fee but other companies do charge to book a seat, even for those on the free travel scheme.