Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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9. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the impact of Budget 2014 on poverty. [43364/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I am keenly aware that the expenditure reductions in this Budget will impact on some social welfare recipients. However, the lower adjustment of €226 million, rather than the €440 million originally requested of the Department means I have protected the weekly social welfare payments upon which people depend as well as crucial supplementary payments such as the Fuel Allowance, the Electricity/Gas Allowance, Free Travel, the Half-Rate Carer’s Allowance and the Respite Care Grant. Child Benefit rates have also been protected in this Budget.As part of the Budgetary deliberative process, the Department has analysed, in so far as possible, the distributive and poverty impact of possible welfare changes to all welfare recipients including different family types including those with children. The Department is now preparing an analysis of the Budget 2014 tax and welfare packages. This Social Impact Assessment will include an analysis of the distributive and poverty impacts of these changes on different family types as well as the impact on at risk of poverty levels. I will be examining the analysis when it is finalised and I will publish it in due course.

As I have already outlined, Budget 2014 continues the process of repairing the public finances while protecting the welfare safety net and providing a pathway back to work for jobseekers.

The principal reason I have been able to protect these crucial welfare supports is the Department’s role in helping people back to work, which in turn has seen the Live Register fall. Getting people back to work is the most effective way of reducing welfare expenditure – and we are doing it. Every 10,000 we help off the Live Register saves around €90 million in welfare expenditure per annum. But more importantly the best route out of poverty is through employment.

Since coming to office, I have focused on transforming the Department from the passive benefits provider of old to an active, engaged and focused employment service which is helping people to avail of education and training opportunities and ultimately to get back to work.

This work continues apace and the increase in the number of people in the workforce proves that this approach, combined with the work of my colleagues in Government, is bearing fruit.

- The numbers in work rose by 33,800 in the year to the second quarter of 2013.

- The Live Register is down by 20,000 over the past year, and will shortly fall below 400,000 for the first time since May 2009.

Next year, the Department will spend €1.08 billion on work, training and education places and related supports for jobseekers – an increase of almost €85 million on our projected spend this year.

During Ireland’s Presidency of the EU Council, I oversaw negotiations on the Youth Guarantee, which will be introduced across Europe from next year.

The Guarantee will be a youth employment stimulus, offering good-quality work, training and educational opportunities for young people.

This budget will help more people back to work, reduce the overall welfare spend as part of the sustained effort to repair the public finances, and ensure the safety net remains firmly in place for those who need it most.