I understand the difficulties the sector is facing. With regard to the pandemic unemployment payment, the Department has always applied a common-sense approach to the condition requiring an applicant to be genuinely seeking work. To be very clear, we do not expect those who are waiting for their jobs to come back to be looking for work. If, however, people have permanently lost their jobs, we are here to help, and that is what we want to do. Some people were wondering whether they could do a gig and whether it woul…

I thank Deputy Kerrane. The Government is committed to protecting vulnerable households from the impact of energy costs through a combination of supports, energy efficiency awareness initiatives and investment in programmes to improve the energy efficiency of the housing stock. With regard to income supports, my Department provides a range of schemes to assist with energy costs. These include the fuel allowance, which is a payment of €24.50 per week for 28 weeks from October to April, giving a total of €686 per ann…

I thank the Deputy. She makes a fair point on the impact of Covid-19 on energy costs. Obviously, if people are spending more time in their homes because of Covid-19, it will have a knock-on effect on energy costs, particularly as we enter the winter months. As I stated, the fuel allowance payments will start to be issued from next week. Over 350,000 households were supported by the fuel allowance this year and we extended the payment this season by four weeks. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, does…

To follow on from what I was saying, retrofitting will play a major in the Government's plan for economic recovery. The July stimulus package commits to an increase in the SEAI budget of €100 million in 2021. That is a considerable increase. Only today, the Minister responsible for climate action, Deputy Eamon Ryan, announced €28 million under the community energy grant initiative. That will benefit almost 1,500 homes and community buildings by making them warmer and more energy efficient. The Minister responsible …

The ESRI is carrying out a study of carbon tax commitments. Its findings will inform the Government on this issue. I have not received those yet but when I do, I will obviously publish them.

I thank Deputy McAuliffe for raising this matter. Community employment, CE, is an employment support programme targeted at the long-term unemployed. Prior to the recent Covid-19 emergency the number of long-term unemployed on the live register fell steadily as the economy gradually returned to full employment. While this was a positive development, it meant a reduction in the number of suitable candidates available for onward referral to employment support schemes, including CE. During the period of the Covid-19 em…

I have also met many of the CE scheme supervisors. For several years now, they have sought through their union representatives the allocation of Exchequer funding to implement a 2008 Labour Court recommendation relating to the provision of a pension scheme. CE sponsoring authorities are the legal employers of their CE supervisors, CE assistant supervisors and CE participants and the Department's role continues to be that of a CE funder. However, the issue was examined by a community sector high-level forum chaired …

As I said, we are engaging with the supervisors and, in fairness, my Department works very closely with them. I am aware there were a number of issues in one scheme in the midlands only a couple of weeks ago and we had direct involvement. We were able to give them the necessary support and information and bring clarification to a number of issues. We want to continue to work with them because they provide an absolutely vital service. It is not just all about job activation, it is also about social inclusion. They p…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Rent supplement continues to play a key role in supporting families and individuals in private rented accommodation, with the scheme currently supporting 19,600 recipients. The scheme provides short-term income support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. The scheme ensures that those who were renting but whose circu…

The strategic policy direction of my Department is to return rent supplement to its original purpose of being a short-term income-support scheme. Under the HAP scheme, responsibility for the provision of rental assistance to those with a long-term housing need is transferring to local authorities. HAP has been designed to simplify the current system of housing supports. It allows people to engage in full-time employment and remain in the scheme, whereas rent supplement is not generally payable where the person or h…

In reacting to Covid, the important thing is for people to be able to remain in their houses. As the Deputy knows, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government introduced protections through the Residential Tenancies and Valuation Act 2020 which became law on 1 August. That includes protections for tenants facing rent arrears and as a result are at risk of losing their tenancy. My Department's focus has been to support people to ensure that during these difficult times they receive sufficient income to a…

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. The free-travel scheme is currently available to all people living in the State aged 66 years or over, to carers and to customers under 66 who are in receipt of certain disability-type payments. Approximately 978,770 customers are in receipt of free travel. However, over 1.6 million people currently benefit from the scheme when companion and spousal passes are taken into account. The scheme allows those eligible to travel for free on most CIÉ public transport ser…

I thank the Deputy. He made a valid point about rural transport. I would be standing for a long time at the end of my lane before a bus would go past - there is no bus. The rural transport programme provides services to people whose travel needs are not met by scheduled bus or train services. I think the Deputy will agree that the Local Link company covering Cavan and Monaghan is one of the best in the country. It has continually added to the service it has provided over the years. It is a top-class service that pr…

The Deputy is absolutely right that the free travel scheme is hugely important to people in many communities. I see it often in Cootehill on a Friday morning when the Local Link bus service brings people into the town to do their shopping and meet up with friends. Unfortunately, that type of activity is somewhat changed in the Covid environment. The extent and adequacy of public transport service provision, both urban and rural, fall under the remit of my colleague, the Minister for Communications, Climate Action a…

Every day the State delivers important and valuable services and benefits to the people living in the State. It is critically important that we can do so in the knowledge that the person in receipt of such services is who he or she claims to be. It is also important that we minimise the requirement for people to authenticate their identity each time they need to enter into a transaction with a public body. A key aim of the public services card and the standard authentication framework environment, SAFE, process tha…

As I have outlined, the matter is subject to a court case. The Deputy will appreciate that I do not want to pre-empt or in any way prejudice that court case. My understanding is that the matter may be coming for hearing shortly. That is as much information as I can give the Deputy in this regard. It is important to note that, as the Deputy knows, many people ask their public representatives why they have to keep giving the same information to different Departments time and again. Removing that requirement was the p…

The public services card was first provided for in law in 1998. The clear intention at the time was to replace the old social services card with one that could be used across all State services. That was the concept behind it. The overwhelming majority of users surveyed by a third-party research company support the card. In October 2017, the Data Protection Commissioner initiated an investigation into the service, which included a consideration of the legal basis for the processing of personal data and its complian…

At the end of August 2020, there were 87,733 people in receipt of carer's allowance. The projected expenditure in 2020 is approximately €919 million. A primary qualifying condition for the carer’s allowance is that the applicant provides full-time care and attention to a person in need of such a level of care. However, to support a carer’s continued attachment to the workforce and broader social inclusion, carers may engage in some limited employment, education or training, while still being regarded as being in a …

As I said, this was reviewed and it was looked at in detail. The recommendation that came from that review was 18.5 hours for people who are doing this really important work. As I said it was only brought in this year in budget 2020. I take the point the Deputy is making about people on CE schemes getting 19.5 hours but these things are, as I said, always kept under review. In view of the fact that this has only just been changed, however, I do not know if the basis for changing it has in fact changed in such a sho…

I hear the Deputy's point. As I said, it has only just been changed and in view of that fact I do not know why the situation he refers to was not taken into consideration when they were making this consideration. I will certainly look at the basis for the recommendation. We always keep these things under review.