Written answers

Wednesday, 21 May 2008

Department of Social and Family Affairs

Social Welfare Code

8:00 pm

Photo of Olwyn EnrightOlwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 195: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the progress with the programme for Government commitment to urgently examine the introduction of free travel for Irish citizens of pension age particularly those resident in the UK when visiting Ireland and press the European Commission to examine a similar EU wide scheme and to replace the existing paper travel pass with a plastic card which can be used on all public transport services which offer the facility of free travel; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20144/08]

Photo of Mary HanafinMary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The free travel scheme is available to all people living in the State aged 66 years or over and to people receiving certain disability or care payments. Proposals to extend the free travel scheme to Irish born people living abroad and those receiving pensions from my Department have been examined and, in this regard, officials of the Department have engaged in discussions with EU Commission officials. However, at this stage, it has not been possible to progress the matter as, under EU legislation, discrimination on grounds of nationality is prohibited. More recently, the European Commission has indicated that to extend the scheme to people in receipt of an Irish pension could also be considered discriminatory.

The Department is co-ordinating an interdepartmental initiative to develop a public services card. This programme of work is known as the SAFE (Standard Authentication Framework Environment) initiative. It has been agreed that the first iteration of the new card will be a replacement for the existing free travel pass. The Department is currently working towards the introduction of this card towards the end of 2008. The new card, which will include photo identification, will introduce a number of improvements, including an improved registration process and new card technology which will bring improved security features.

Photo of Olwyn EnrightOlwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 196: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the progress with the programme for Government commitment to enhance the money advice and budgeting service by establishing it under legislation and that MABS will also be given a central role in increasing access to affordable credit for low-income earners and social welfare customers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20145/08]

Photo of Mary HanafinMary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) is the main Government funded service which provides assistance to people who are over-indebted and need help and advice in coping with debt problems. The MABS has a unique and expert contribution to make in meeting the needs of people with debt difficulties in today's society. This includes promoting greater awareness about household budgeting and shaping the strategies, especially those of services providers such as the banks and the credit unions, to ensure greater financial inclusion in Ireland. The MABS continues to work closely with the Financial Regulator in developing initiatives in this regard. For example the MABS and the Financial Regulator have developed an education programme on money management for Transition Year students which will be rolled out to 120 schools from September 2008.

Photo of Olwyn EnrightOlwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 197: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the progress with the programme for Government commitment to continue to support the office of social inclusion and review the effectiveness of the poverty proofing mechanisms being used; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20146/08]

Photo of Mary HanafinMary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Poverty proofing was introduced in 1998 on foot of a commitment in the first National Anti-Poverty Strategy. Since then it has been a requirement for significant policy proposals to indicate clearly the impact of the proposal on people in poverty or at risk of falling into poverty. Following a review of the poverty proofing process, the Office for Social Inclusion (OSI) in my Department, produced a revised set of guidelines for what is now termed Poverty Impact Assessment. The revised guidelines emphasise that the focus in the process should be on evaluating the outcomes of policies, programmes and services in terms of their potential impact on poverty and that poverty impact assessment should form an integral part of the policy making process. The guidelines are available on the OSI website at www.socialinclusion.ie.

Support for the work of the OSI in developing effective poverty proofing mechanisms is a key commitment in the Programme for Government and the roll out of the revised guidelines is a priority in this regard. The Office has commenced a pilot programme, to implement the new guidelines, with three government departments. All the pilots are at an early stage. However, when completed they will provide models of best practice that will assist the OSI in its efforts to effectively embed poverty impact assessment as part of the policy making process across all government departments. In addition, the Office is working with the Combat Poverty Agency on applying the new guidelines in the local authorities. My objective, in line with the Programme for Government, is to ensure that the new guidelines will serve as an effective tool in ensuring that the priority of combating poverty and social exclusion is kept to the fore in policy making and implementation at all levels of Government.

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