Yes.

I am pretty sure. It is a standard provision in such legislation. I assure the Deputy that the Department is not going to stick its nose in where that is not necessary.

I thank Deputy Wall for the amendment. Amendments Nos. 18 to 20, inclusive, are grouped together. I do not propose to accept these amendments, which are possibly irrelevant owing to other related amendments being ruled out of order. I wrote to Deputies Wall, Quaide, Coppinger and O'Reilly on this issue after Committee Stage. There are provisions in the Bill removing the eligibility of divorcees to the bereaved partner's contributory pension. The legislation adopts the policy whereby, insofar as possible, an individ…

It is important to acknowledge this Bill came about as a result of Mr. Johnny O'Meara and his family in memory of his partner and their mum, Michelle Batey. I thank Mr. O'Meara and Deputy Alan Kelly who stood and worked with him along with other organisations throughout this process. I thank all Deputies for their contributions to this debate and look forward to bringing the Bill to the Seanad.

I move: That it be an instruction to the Select Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development on the Social Welfare (Bereaved Partner's Pension) Bill 2025, that pursuant to Standing Order 194, the Committee has power to make amendments to the Bill which are outside the scope of the existing provisions of the Bill to provide that: — Invalidity Pension is a pension that must be applied for and obtained before pensionable age, and for the transfer of the small number of persons aged over 66 years who…

Maidin mhaith ar ais duit, a Theachta. The new jobseeker's pay-related benefit was introduced at the end of March. This new social insurance-based income support has replaced the jobseeker's benefit scheme for those who have become fully unemployed since the commencement of the scheme on 31 March. On 7 June 2025, some 11,900 jobseeker's pay-related benefit claims had been awarded under the new scheme. The origin of this payment is the experience during the Covid period, when many workers lost their incomes suddenly…

I am always open to considering the Deputy's suggestions. We will be reviewing the jobseeker’s pay-related benefit after a year of operation. This is the first time in more than 40 years we have had such a benefit. In connection with other questions that have arisen, it will provide the foundation for other potential pay-related benefits. If there are relevant cases, the Deputy should bring them to my attention. We are proactively engaging with those we know have a particular pattern of employment at this time of t…

Absolutely. I am always open to any engagement with unions on this. This system was designed for workers who are going to be re-employed relatively quickly. Hopefully in the coming weeks, we will get the first signal of that, because the first cohort of people will be coming to the end of the top payment of 13 weeks. That payment declines as they are no longer employed so to do a full comparison between jobseeker's pay-related benefit and other things will take some time in terms of people's experience and the leng…

Carer's benefit is, as the Deputy knows, a payment available to insured people who may need to leave work or reduce their hours to care for a person or people in need of full-time care and attention. It is financed from the Social Insurance Fund. Since January, the scheme has been extended to the self-employed. Recipients of carer's benefit were among the 138,000 carers who received a carer's support grant of €2,000 on 5 June. The Government fully acknowledges the incredible role that family carers play and we are …

Absolutely. I think in a couple of weeks the Deputy will see a full indication of this Government's ongoing commitment to carers. As he knows, the carer's benefit is subject to an earnings limit of €450 per week after tax. As part of budget 2025, the income limit will increase to €625 with effect from July, which will allow far more carers to avail of carer's benefit. We also extended the flexibility regarding children who are in hospital or newborns who are kept in hospital. The carer's benefit payment has increas…

I have met the carers' forum in the Department. I will continue to use that forum with carers' groups for consultation. I am sure the joint committee will have good input on that, as well as Deputies in this House. We have made changes this year. As I said, carer's benefit was extended to the self-employed as part of budget 2025. At the end of April, we had 139 applications from self-employed people for carer's benefit. We paid the carer's support grant, which is the highest in its history, of €2,000 on 5 June. We …

I thank the Deputy. I do not mind at all. The back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance scheme provides a once-off annual payment to eligible families to assist with the cost of clothing and footwear when children start or start back at school each autumn. Last year, the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance payments totalled €57.04 million. This was paid to more than 149,500 families in respect of 264,400 qualified children. The majority of families are awarded the allowance automatically. A notifica…

On the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance for foster families, it was an anomaly that foster children could not qualify for this scheme. This was even to the extent that there could be foster children and other children within a family. Some of the children would have qualified and the foster children would not. I have corrected that anomaly. There are means tests, however, across all our schemes. I do not want to correct an anomaly by creating another. I understand the extraordinary role played by fost…

The Government welcomes the publication of the fourth child poverty monitor. I acknowledge and thank the Children's Rights Alliance and its constituent members for the work they have put into this. The child poverty monitor draws on the survey on income and living conditions, SILC, 2024, which was published by the Central Statistics Office, CSO, in March 2025. It is based on a survey conducted throughout 2024 asking people about their income and consumption in 2023 and 2024. It illustrates that the consistent pover…

I wish to reiterate that we are disappointed by the latest child poverty figures. However, it is important to recognise that in 2023, when the SILC income data was collected, the Government had not yet brought in free school meals for all primary schools, which we have now done, or free school books across second level, which we have now done. Those supports will make a difference to children in poverty. It will be reflected in future figures. Similarly, the significant increases in social welfare contained in budg…

It will require continuous targeted investment. We will be making choices in the context of budget 2026 regarding targeted supports for children and families. I look forward to the Deputy's support for those. In the context of the programme for Government, we will continue to retain the child poverty and well-being office in the Department of the Taoiseach. The Taoiseach made it very clear to me when I was appointed that child poverty is to be a major focus. We will continue to increase core welfare payments. We wi…

My Department is committed to providing quality service to all, ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made in a timely manner. We absolutely understand the pressures people face, and we ensure that claims are processed quickly and efficiently. There are almost 170,000 people in receipt of disability allowance and more than 100,000 people in receipt of carer's allowance. The number of people in receipt of disability allowance has increased by almost 50%. The number of people …

I thank the Deputy for his feedback. We discussed this matter in the context of preparing a reply to his question. We are putting a huge number of resources into dealing with appeals. We have 20 extra staff who have been assigned to the appeals unit. They have been trained up and are working. The number of domiciliary care appeals decreased from approximately 1,200 in the middle of May to just over 600 by the middle of this month. The majority of those 600 cases relate to appeals made in April, May and this month. …

In recent weeks, I took the time to try to visit all the Department's regional offices in which many of these claims are dealt with, including our head office in Dublin. I met all the staff, and they are doing absolutely fantastic work. We have nearly 7,000 members of staff across the Department of Social Protection, many of whom are managing these claims and turning them around as quickly as possible. Where there are information gaps, we try to address them as quickly as possible. We are investing significantly in…

The carer's allowance is the main scheme by means of which my Department provides income supports to carers in every community. As the Deputy will be aware, more than 100,000 people are in receipt of carer's allowance. Expenditure on the scheme in the current year is estimated to be more than €1.24 billion. Carer’s allowance provides an income support to people whose earning capacity is substantially reduced because they cannot work full time due to their caring responsibilities. It is means-tested to target the su…