Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senators for their constructive engagement. I will do my best to answer queries. To answer Senator Burke's initial question, the pension will be based on the higher rate. On the jury service issue we will talk to the Minister for Justice regarding giving an allowance in the circumstances he outlined. With regards to Senators Burke's and Craughwell's point about class K PRSI, prior to its introduction in 2011, public officeholders did not pay PRSI on the income they received in that capacity. Under budget 2011 a 4% charge effective from 1 January 2011 was introduced on the remuneration received by public officeholders in that capacity regardless of age provided that income exceeds €5,200 per annum. It should be noted that public officeholders may establish entitlement to social insurance benefits based on income generated other than as a public officeholder. Where they have exited insurable employment or self-employment public officeholders can, subject to satisfying the qualifying conditions, pay voluntary contributions under that scheme. I note Senator Craughwell's points and will certainly feed them back to the Minister, Deputy Humphreys.

With regard to Senator Ardagh's comments, the plan is to roll out school meals. The programme has grown very significantly in the last few years. This budget has seen another large jump. The plan is to have school meals widely available. That will take time but we are accelerating quite quickly in that regard. As for some of Senator Boylan's points she noted child benefit has not increased but I would argue that the increase for a qualified child is a much more effective and targeted payment and that has been increasing incrementally over the years.

As regards minimum essential standard of living, MESL, the Senator will be aware of the work of the Vincentian MESL Research Centre which is sponsored by my Department as an assessment of the minimum income needed to partake in everyday life. The work of the MESL Research Centre also highlights issues that may be better solved with greater access to services rather than increases in income. In this regard having access to secondary benefits such as medical cards and supports in the areas of housing and childcare can result in significant reductions in the minimum income standards needed by households. This presents another difficulty in using the MESL as a benchmark for the level of social welfare payments alone. The work of the Vincentian MESL Research Centre is and will continue to be a valued input to our policy-making process. On an annual basis my Department already assesses the social impact of the annual budget process including in recent years the impact of once-off measures. I commit that we will publish a detailed social impact assessment of budget 2024 including the main tax and welfare measures using the ESRI's SWITCH microsimulation model by quarter 1 of next year.

The Department also has a three-year joint research programme on poverty and social inclusion with the ESRI. As part of this programme the ESRI is currently working on a technical paper examining the relationship with the MESL income standards and the Central Statistics Office's, CSO's, at risk of poverty thresholds. This will be published in 2024 and will add further to the evidence base on the relationship between MESL and poverty thresholds. At this stage we do not propose to set up another commission.

Senator Wall had a lot of good questions. The carer's allowance means test changed last year. Some €50,000 of capital is still allowable to get the full carer's allowance. The carer's benefit and the domiciliary care allowance are not mean tested. As for the CE issue I will take that away for the moment. The carer's and 20 year issues, in terms of the long-term carer's contributions, is based on the recognition that someone caring for this period of time will face greater challenges in building up the eligibility criteria of 520 paid contributions. If the claimant has cared for fewer than 20 years the period will be registered and used for a State pension. If and when they have additional periods which accumulate to 20 years or more the person with fewer than 20 years of caring may be entitled to avail of home caring periods and the homemaker's scheme subject to the existing qualifying conditions of having the 520 paid contributions. Regarding the foster care payment, there has been some increase, but the majority of it will come next year. I am aware of this. Ultimately, it was a budgetary matter. Obviously, we would want more sooner. I acknowledge the role of foster carers.

The new long-term carers contribution is for long-term carers of incapacitated dependents and not specifically for foster carers. However, where a foster carer is caring for a child who comes within the definition and period in this context, the new arrangement may apply to a foster carer for the relevant duration of that care.

Senator Wall made several comments in respect of the Green Paper on disability. I was in the Dáil this morning taking questions on this matter. I confirm that we have extended the consultation period. I reiterate, as I did this morning, that this is a Green Paper, a consultation process, and about us in the Department listening. We have travelled around the country, and we need to do more of this. I know people were gathered outside the Dáil earlier, and making their points as well. We must listen to those points. This is my clear message to the Senators today. I know there are concerns in terms of how things were done in the UK. The clear message I want to give on this point is that it is not the UK system that we are proposing.

The Senator also raised the fact that some people he met had received letters from the Department in April. The objective of these letters was really to highlight the supports available, including for education, training and employment, for disabled people. These supports are entirely voluntary, and this should have been the tone of the letter, to my knowledge anyway. There is no requirement in this regard. I repeat that there is no requirement for anyone to engage, but it is important that people with disabilities are aware of the supports available to them, should they wish to access them.

If any issues are outstanding, I ask the Senators to please follow up with me. I thank them for their contributions.