Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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130. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the position regarding the establishment of a working age payment as committed to in the Programme for Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8483/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for Government commits to introducing a new Working Age Payment to provide that individuals see an increase in income when they work or take on additional hours and remove inconsistencies and anomalies in the current Jobseeker's supports.

My Department is progressing this work, taking into account initial responses on the principle of the scheme which were received as part of the public consultations on Pay-Related Jobseeker’s Benefit and the Green Paper on Disability Reform. A proposed model would effectively merge Jobseeker’s Allowance and Working Family Payment so that a person’s payment would be based on a percentage of the difference between their income and a specified threshold for their family type. The model would utilise Revenue Commissioner real time earnings data to adjust payment levels in line with a person’s weekly earnings.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.