Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 614: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs when the maximum limit in secondary earnings of €120 per week was set for people on disability allowance; and his views on raising it in line with intervening changes in the minimum wage. [14151/07]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The earnings disregard for those in receipt of Disability Allowance engaging in rehabilitative employment has been increased on a number of occasions since the transfer of the then Disabled Person's Maintenance Allowance (DPMA) from the Health Boards to my Department as Disability Allowance in 1996. At that time the disregard was £35.20 (equivalent to €44.69), increased to £36.30 (€46.09) from June 1997 and to £50 (€63.49) from 3 June 1998. It was then increased to £75 (€95.23) from 5 April 2000 and to its current level of €120 from April 2000.

Prior to June last year, once a person exceeded earnings of €120 per week, payment of their Disability Allowance was withdrawn on a euro for euro basis. In order to improve the employment incentives for people of working age and, as part of the Social Welfare Budget package, 2006, I introduced a new withdrawal rate of Disability Allowance, effective from 1 June 2006. This change means that, for earnings above €120 and under €350 per week, Disability Allowance is now withdrawn at 50 cents for every euro earned, rather than the previous euro for euro withdrawal. In practice, this means that a single person can earn up to €420 per week before their Disability Allowance fully ceases, compared with the previous amount of €240 per week. The policy in relation to supporting employment incentives for people with disabilities will continue to be kept under review in my Department and any further changes will be considered within the wider budgetary context.