Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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131. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection on the need to increase the basic social protection rate to combat the increase in inflation since January 2011; that the failure to make progress on restoring the buying power of minimum social protection payments in budget 2016 is a concern; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40249/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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In 2011, the previous Government reduced most weekly rates of payment to people aged under 66 by €8 per week, a reduction of approximately 4%, at a time when the rate of inflation was 2.6%.

This Government has protected core weekly rates of payment since coming into office.

The best way of increasing a household’s income is through employment. In this regard, this Government has worked to restore public finances to health, to help sustain and create employment, and to chart a course towards strong economic growth. Since the introduction of this Government’s Pathways to Workprogramme, over 100,000 people have left the Live Register to enter employment. Unemployment has fallen from a crisis peak of 15.1% to 9.3% in October 2015. Importantly, the rate of long-term unemployment has decreased at a slightly faster rate, down from a peak of 9.5% to 5.5% in the second quarter of 2015.

The social welfare package in this year’s Budget had four main aims:

- to deliver welfare improvements for pensioners aged 66 and over;

- to strengthen supports for all families with children;

- to enhance incentives for employment and to make work pay; and

- to provide targeted assistance for vulnerable groups, such as carers and people with disabilities.

Last year, I reintroduced a Christmas Bonus payable at 25% of the weekly rate. This year, a 75% Christmas Bonus will be paid in the first week of December to over 1.2 million long-term social welfare recipients, including pensioners, people with disabilities, carers, lone parents and long-term jobseekers. A single person in receipt of Disability Allowance will receive €141.00, while a jobseeker with a qualified adult and two dependent children in receipt of Jobseeker’s Allowance for 15 months will receive €279.30.

More than 676,500 pensioners and their dependents will benefit from the above-inflation €3 increase in the weekly rate of payments to all social welfare recipients aged 66 and over. This is the first weekly rate increase for pensioners since 2009 and builds on the increase in the Living Alone Allowance last year. This is the first general rate increase for pensioners since 2009.

It should be noted that carers aged 66 and over will benefit from the €3 weekly rate increase. This rate increase will also benefit carers in receipt of the half-rate Carer’s Allowance aged 66 and over, who will gain by €1.50 per week.

The Respite Care Grant, to be renamed the Carer’s Support Grant to better reflect the usage of the grant, will also be increased by €325, from €1,375 to €1,700 per annum. Furthermore, payment of Carer’s Allowance will be extended by 6 weeks, from 6 weeks to 12 weeks, after the death of the care recipient.

In addition, those eligible for the Fuel Allowance will gain from the increase in January of €2.50 per week, from €20 to €22.50 per week over the fuel season.

Funding for the Free Travel scheme, which benefits a large number of pensioners, is being increased by €3 million, from €77 million to €80 million, to meet increased numbers eligible for the scheme and therefore fully protect entitlements under the scheme.

In regard to families with children, I am introducing a number of important measures including:

- A €5 increase in Child Benefit, which increases the rate from €135 to €140 per month per child. This will benefit over 623,000 families in respect of almost 1.2 million children.

- Increased funding for the School Meals programme of €3 million, bringing the provision to €42 million in 2016.

- The introduction of a new Paternity Benefit scheme whereby fathers will, for the first time, have the option of applying for 2 weeks’ leave in respect of births from September 2016. This measure recognises the important role of fathers in bringing up their children.

- An additional €18 million to increase the Family Income Supplement (FIS) thresholds - by €5 for a family with one child and by €10 for a family with two children or more. The measure will benefit nearly 60,000 families and over 131,000 children.

Finally, I am also introducing a PRSI Credit which will benefit over 88,000 lower earners with weekly income between €352.01 and €424, by reducing the amount of PRSI they pay in a week. This complements the increase in the minimum wage by ensuring that those on low earnings brought within the PRSI net will pay a significantly lower amount of PRSI per week, than would currently apply.

The Department carried out a social impact assessment of the main tax and social welfare measures contained in Budget 2016, which is available on the Departmental website: . The analysis finds that the average household gains by 1.6%, or €14 per week, as a result of Budget 2016. Significantly, there are higher than average gains for the bottom two income quintiles, while the smallest gain is in the top quintile.

Through the perseverance of our people, we now have a very strong recovery. This Budget will help in that process of spreading that recovery more widely. Maintaining a strong economy and sensibly managing the public finances is the priority while raising living standards across the board and investing in the services that a decent society requires.

We have not got to our destination yet but it is within sight and within reach. With this Budget, we took another firm step towards it.