Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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345. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated full-year cost of extending eligibility for the fuel allowance to all pensioners, to all in receipt of the working family payment and/or a medical card; the estimated full-year cost of abolishing the waiting period of a year for those on jobseeker’s allowance, and of increasing the rate by €20 per week; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28863/24]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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346. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated full-year cost of extending eligibility for the household benefits package to all pensioners and to all in receipt of the working family payment and/or a medical card; and of increasing the rate to €60; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28864/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 345 and 346 together.

My Department does not hold data on persons in receipt of a medical card and is therefore unable to provide a costing for the extension of Fuel Allowance or Household Benefits to this cohort.

The detail requested by the Deputy in relation to the remining cohorts is not readily available. My Department is in the process of collating the data in question and will revert with a reply directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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347. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated full-year cost of restoring the pension age to 65 years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28865/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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It is important to note that the State Pension age was never 65 years of age. The State Pension (Contributory) and State Pension (Non-Contributory) were never paid at 65 years of age.

Reducing the State Pension age to 65 years would increase pension related expenditure significantly. My Department does not have a detailed actuarial analysis of this option. However, a high-level estimate of the cost of introducing State Pension payments at the age of 65 based on current State Pension (Contributory) and State Pension (Non-Contributory) rates of payment (€277.3 and €266 respectively) from 01/01/2025 is an additional €415million for one year only.

This high-level estimate is based on net costs for future State Pension (Contributory) and State Pension (Non-Contributory) qualifiers but does not include estimates for any changes to household benefits, free travel or fuel allowance costs. In addition, the figure takes no account of any additional costs to public sector pensions.

The "Benefit Payment for 65 year olds" was introduced in line with the Programme for Government commitment, to provide a benefit payment for people who are aged 65 and who are required to retire, or who chose to retire, without a requirement to sign on, engage in activation measures or be available for, and genuinely seeking work. This payment was designed specifically to bridge the gap for people who retire from employment or self-employment at 65 years of age but who do not qualify for the State Pension until age 66.

Following on from the recommendations of the Pensions Commission, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is introducing measures that allow, but do not compel, an employee to stay in employment until the State Pension age.

Demographic projections indicate significant increases in the number of future State Pension recipients which will impact on State Pension related expenditure. Clearly, reducing the State Pension age to 65 years of age would be very expensive and would require either considerable additional revenues, or, if introduced on a cost-neutral basis, very significant diversion of funds from elsewhere.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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348. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated full-year cost of increasing all headline weekly social protection payments to €350 per week; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28866/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The estimated full year cost of increasing all weekly social welfare payments to €350 per week is €6,976.9 million.

This includes a proportionate increase for Qualified Adults. These costings are subject to change in the context of emerging trends and associated revision of the estimated numbers of recipients.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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349. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated full-year cost of increasing all headline weekly social protection payment to €300 per week, excluding disability-related payments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28867/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The estimated full year cost of increasing all weekly social welfare payments to €300 per week is €2,798.3 million. This includes a proportionate increase for Qualified Adult.

These costings are subject to change in the context of emerging trends and associated revision of the estimated numbers of recipients.

Disability Allowance, Invalidity Pension, Partial Capacity, Disablement Pension and Blind Person’s Pension are excluded from the above costings.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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350. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated full-year cost of increasing disability, blind pensions and invalidity pension to €350 per week. [28868/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department provides a number of income supports for those unable to work due to illness or disability. These include insurance-based schemes, based on Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) contributions, and means tested social assistance schemes.

The main long term disability payment supports are Disability Allowance, Invalidity Pension and Blind Pension. Disability Allowance and Blind Pension are means tested payments while Invalidity Pension is a social insurance payment.

The combined number of recipients of these payments was over 221,600 as of April 2024.

Based on the current recipients of disability payments from my Department, the estimated annual costs associated with increasing the personal rate of Disability Allowance, Blind Pension and Invalidity Pension to €350 per week would be approximately €1.34 billion in a full year.

I have introduced many improvements across these schemes in my time as Minister for Social Protection. The personal rates increased by €24 per week over the last 2 budgets with proportionate increases for qualified adults.

In addition, the earnings disregard for recipients of Disability Allowance and Blind pension has increased by almost 38% over the last four budgets from €120 to €140 to €165 currently. This enables a person to earn more without having a negative impact on their means tested payment. A person can currently earn up to €165 per week and keep their payment in full and can earn up to €505.10 and keep a small portion of their payment and keep their secondary benefits, if applicable.

I will continue to keep the range of supports provided by this Department under review. However, any changes to the current supports provided would have to be considered in an overall budgetary and policy context.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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351. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated full-year cost of increasing maternity, paternity and parent’s benefit to €300 a week. [28869/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Maternity Benefit its payable for 26 weeks and Paternity Benefit is payable for two weeks. Currently seven weeks of Parent's Benefit is available for each eligible parent but, as a result of measures in Budget 2024, this will increase to nine weeks per parent from next month.

Maternity Benefit, Parent's Benefit and Paternity Benefit are paid at €274 per week. The estimated full year additional cost of increasing the rates of these payments by €26 to €300 per week is as follows:

The costs shown above are on a full year basis with the estimated number of recipients in 2024. It should be noted that these costings are subject to change in the context of emerging trends and associated revision of the estimated numbers of recipients.

Changes to payment rates can only be considered in a budgetary context.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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352. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated full-year cost of increasing maternity benefit to €300 a week and extending it to 52 weeks. [28870/24]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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353. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated full-year cost of increasing maternity benefit to 52 weeks at current levels of payment. [28871/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 352 and 353 together.

Maternity Benefit is a payment for employed women who are on Maternity Leave from work, and and self-employed women, who satisfy certain PRSI contribution conditions. It is currently paid for twenty-six weeks at the weekly rate of €274 per week.

Any decision to extend the period of Maternity Leave for employees is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, who has policy and legal responsibility for Maternity Leave. Any extension of this leave would require careful consideration and consultation with relevant stakeholders.

The cost of extending Maternity Benefit by 26 weeks, from 26 weeks to 52 weeks, at the current weekly payment rate of €274 would result in an additional increase of annual expenditure on the scheme of approximately €290 million.

The cost of extending the duration of Maternity Benefit by 26 weeks, from 26 week to 52 weeks, and also increasing the weekly payment rate by €26, from €274 to €300, would result in additional annual expenditure on the scheme of approximately €367 million.

These estimates are based on a full year basis and on the number of recipients in 2024. It should be noted that this costing is subject to change in the context of emerging trends and associated revision of the estimated number of recipients.

These estimates do not reflect any additional costs which may be incurred by employers who provide substitution or salary top-ups which, in the Civil and Public Sector, would be a matter for my colleague the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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354. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated full-year cost of extending parent’s benefit to 52 weeks. [28872/24]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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355. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated full-year cost of extending parent’s benefit to 52 weeks and increasing the level of the payment to €300 a week. [28873/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 354 and 355 together.

Parents Benefit is a payment for employed and self-employed people who are on Parents Leave from work who satisfy certain PRSI contribution conditions. It is currently paid for seven weeks and has been extended to nine weeks from the first of August 2024 at €274 per week.

Any decision to extend the period of Parents Leave for employees is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, who has policy and legal responsibility for the scheme. Any extension of this leave would require careful consideration and consultation with relevant stakeholders.

The cost of extending Parents Benefit by 43 weeks, from 9 weeks to 52 weeks, at the currently weekly rate of €274 would result in an additional annual expenditure on the scheme of approximately €606 million.

The cost of extending Parents Benefit, by 43 weeks, from 9 weeks to 52 weeks, and also increasing the weekly rate by €26, from €274 to €300, would result in an increase of annual expenditure on the scheme of approximately €667 million.

These estimates are based on a full year basis and on the number of recipients in 2024. It should be noted that this costing is subject to change in the context of emerging trends and associated revision of the estimated number of recipients.

These estimates do not reflect any additional costs which may be incurred by employers who provide substitution or salary top-ups which, in the Civil and Public Sector, would be a matter for my colleague the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.