David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 33: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the efforts his Department is making to address concern raised by the European Commission report (details supplied) that there is an increasing prevalence of people in employment who are at risk of poverty; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7964/07]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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It is clear that being at work significantly reduces the risks of poverty and deprivation. However, despite economic advances of the past years, some families find themselves dependent on low wage employment. It is important to ensure that work pays and a number of policy instruments crossing a range of Departments are used as a way of preventing poverty amongst the working poor. These include changes to the taxation system, the national minimum wage, provision of training and access to lifelong learning opportunities, assistance with job search and placement and changes to the social welfare system to support the transition to employment and improve the retention of non-cash benefits during that transition. One of the principal policy responses in my Department which is designed to address the problem of low income working families, is the family income supplement (FIS) scheme. A principal feature of this scheme is that it provides cash support to qualifying families even where they have not previously been in receipt of a social welfare payment. This preserves the incentive to remain in employment in circumstances where the employee might otherwise only be marginally better off than if he or she claimed other social welfare payments. Where a person qualifies for FIS, the minimum weekly payment is €20. Research has shown that poverty is more likely to be concentrated in larger families. Recent evidence from the ESRI confirms that this remains substantially the case. In this context, Budget 2007 increased the FIS earnings thresholds by €15 for a one child family up to €185 for an eight child family. It is estimated that these increases will affect 21,100 families and that approximately 5,600 additional families will become eligible for a FIS payment through these increased thresholds. The cost of these measures is estimated at €32 million in 2007 and in a full year. The new FIS thresholds significantly increase all payments while concentrating additional resources on larger families. This continues the re-focusing of thresholds which started in Budget 2006, contributing towards targeting resources at households in poverty.