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

I thank the Senators for their contributions to today's debate and for their support so that this landmark Bill can be enacted before the summer recess. The introduction of pay-related benefit is a major reform of the social welfare system in Ireland. It is about supporting people who have worked hard and contributed to the system by ensuring that they have an enhanced safety net in place if they lose their job. It will brings Ireland in line with our European neighbours where pay-related benefits are already the norm.

When I became Minister for Social Protection pay-related benefit was an absolute priority for me. I remember in 2009 and 2010 when I was working in a credit union I saw people coming in and they were absolutely devastated. They had worked all their lives, had lost their jobs and suddenly realised what they were going to have to live on, and it was not easy. It was really difficult. I always felt that it was unfair because they just faced this sudden cliff edge drop in their income. Through no fault of their own, they lost their jobs. I was very keen that I would do something about it. I am very pleased to be in a position to make these changes and bring this legislation through the Houses of the Oireachtas.

As I said earlier the weekly rate of payment for people who have at least five years' paid PRSI contributions is to be set at 60% of previous gross earnings, subject to a maximum of €450 for the first three months. This is a significant increase and will be payable to workers on average incomes across all sectors. It is almost a doubling of the current personal rate of jobseeker's benefit. For those on minimum wage and working full time this reform will provide for an increased rate of payment of up to €300 per week compared with the current personal jobseeker's rate of €232. The Bill provides a framework for the new pay-related approach.It is a starting point and can be further developed. It is flexible enough to be able to accommodate the inclusion of additional groups of workers in pay-related benefits should the Government decide to do so in the future. As I said, this is a stepping stone. It will open the door for future governments to expand pay-related benefit to other payments. I think maternity benefit should be the next step. That can be followed by illness benefit and there are other benefit payments that we should look at.

The programme of gradual and incremental increases in PRSI, as already agreed by Government, will support the retention of the State pension age at 66. I am committed to that. It will help to address the long-term sustainability challenges facing the Social Insurance Fund and cover the jobseeker's pay-related benefit. We are at full employment. These are very small incremental increases that will make a difference. It is important that we act now to ensure that the Social Insurance Fund is sustainable.

I am a bit disappointed with the Sinn Féin approach to this aspect of the Bill. It is a case of calling for everything but saying somebody else can pay for it. We cannot do that. That is not realistic. I have a quote here from Deputy McDonald. As reported in the Irish Examiner, the Deputy clearly stated, "Our proposal, over the course of a number of budgets, is to bring employers' PRSI up ... [to] four percentage points." Senator Gavan is against a 0.1% increase. That does not make much sense.

There is a number of issues that Senators have raised and I will try to address them quickly. Senators Paddy Burke and Ardagh talked about the self-employed. The self-employed will continue to be catered for under the current jobseeker's benefit self-employed scheme which is in place since 2019. At present, we do not have real-time information on self-employed incomes as the self-employed have until November of the following year to file income returns for any given year. A pay-related benefit is not an option at this time but over time, I do not see why we cannot look at that.

In response to Senator Victor Boyhan on tax, one will have to pay tax on it. It is not deducted at source from the social welfare. To do so, it would need very careful consideration. It could leave a person short if one takes the tax from the social welfare payment. A report in the UK does not recommend this - they have this pay-related benefit in the UK. As I said, it will be taxed, but it will be when one gets back to work, as I understand it, that one pays whatever tax is due on it at that stage. It would all depend on the tax rate or if one is liable for tax or whatever. The change to jobseeker's benefit is that if pay-related is available, one closes the door to the existing scheme. It is as simple as that.

What we are trying to do with this legislation is to reward those who have worked. We do not want to see anybody's payment reduced. We want to see them getting more when they are laid off initially and then we will reduce it accordingly because we do not want it to be a disincentive to returning to work.

In response to Senator Wall, under this scheme everyone is guaranteed a 60% replacement rate. The minimum payment of €125 provides a guaranteed floor payment. That is €20 more than the current minimum for jobseeker's. What we have tried to do is make sure that we have covered everybody. We have arrangements made that those who are working part time can stay on jobseeker's benefit if it is more beneficial to them. Perhaps there are a few different seasonal workers who we did not want to leave worse off than they are and we have managed to keep it for that particular cohort.

That is it, really. I thank the Acting Chairperson, Senator Paul Daly. I thank the Senators for all of their contributions. Gabhaim míle buíochas leo.