No.

The Government has done a great deal to assist people with disabilities. Last November, for example, I announced a disability support grant of €500. This was welcomed by the Disability Federation of Ireland. We had the carer's support grant, but the disability support grant was a new concept. From 1 January, domiciliary care allowance increased by €20.50 to €330 per month. I was the first Minister to increase this payment since 2009.

When issues with Catherine's Law were brought to my attention, I changed it. We have done a list of things. I have given the Deputy the date of mid-May for the straw-man proposal to be published. It will then have to go out to consultation. We will need to give that consultation time to take place. A great deal of work is going into this proposal. My officials work hard on putting such proposals together. It takes time.

The development and provision of services and policies to improve employment opportunities for people with disabilities operates through a cross-government framework with other Departments, agencies and, importantly, disability sector representatives. The disability awareness support scheme provides a contribution towards cost-of-disability awareness training for private sector employers. Funding of up to €20,000 is available, with 90% of the eligible training costs funded in the first year and 80% funded in subseq…

As the Deputy said, when people commence employment they can avail of an income disregard of €165 per week. I increased it to that amount in budget 2023. In addition, 50% of earnings between €165 and €375 are also disregarded for the purpose of the means test. The partial capacity benefit allows people who are in receipt of invalidity pension or illness benefit to enter or return to employment or self-employment and continue to receive partial or full payment. Earlier, I spoke about the strawman proposal we are pub…

I take on board what the Deputy says about the need to advertise the reasonable accommodation fund more. It is available. I put an additional €1 million into it. It means employers can get support for specialised equipment to refurbish offices to make them accessible for people with disabilities. The Deputy is also correct that we also need to ensure people are aware of the disability awareness support scheme. A report on the reasonable accommodation fund is due to be published in quarter 2 of 2023. We have done a …

Currently, all applicants for the contributory State pension have their entitlement assessed under the yearly average method and the interim total contributions approach, receiving the payment that is most beneficial to them. The yearly average method has been in place since the introduction of the contributory pension in 1961 and calculates the average number of social insurance contributions per year, with payments made on a banded basis. Up to 20 years of disregards can be applied under the homemaker's scheme. H…

Yes. We will move to a total contributions approach because it is a fairer approach. It means you get back what you paid in. It will be over a ten-year period so it will be gradual. We do not want to disenfranchise some people. When you change things, there are always those who are better off and those who are perhaps not as well off but we will do it very gradually, over a ten-year period. It will apply from the beginning of January. I am currently bringing through the legislation to make the changes for the pensi…

I am well aware of the cases raised by Deputies Smith and Stanton. One goes to one's accountant, especially if one is a self-employed farmer, and thinks one is getting advice, but sometimes one is not getting great advice because some of those who did not have to pay tax that year did not pay their PRSI. That is exactly what happened. When one reaches retirement age and discovers there are gaps in one's social welfare contributions, one can make an application to look at making up the payments, but that only goes b…

The State non-contributory pension is a means-tested payment for people aged 66 and over, habitually residing in the State, who do not qualify for the State contributory pension or who only qualify for a reduced rate contributory pension based on their social insurance record. People in receipt of the pension are notified of their obligation to inform my Department of any relevant changes in their circumstances, including increases in their means, within a period of three months, in order that their pension entitle…

An individual who has capital amounting to €40,000, or €80,000 for a couple, and no other income or means will receive the maximum rate of the State non-contributory pension. I take the Deputy's point. One could have a single person living on nothing who could manage to survive on very little. I would say it could be the clippings of the tin, which would be very little. They manage to accumulate all these savings. They think they will leave their family a pile of money when they pass away, but then they discover th…

I thank Deputies Stanton and Ring. We are doing a full review of the means test at the minute. We will also look at the capital disregard, which has not been reviewed. I increased the means threshold for the fuel allowance only recently, that is, the amount of money someone can have in an account before it impacted on qualifying for that payment. We need to do a full review of it, as I said earlier. On joint accounts, the issue that has been raised with me by Deputies is the qualified adult, where there is a husban…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. As he is aware, the fuel allowance scheme is a means-tested payment to assist pensioners and other long-term social welfare dependent householders with their winter heating costs. The payment is made over the winter season from September to April at the weekly rate of €33 or, if preferred, by way of two lump-sum instalments, one in September and one in January. Only one fuel allowance is payable per household. Those who qualify for the payment do not need to reapply annua…

The number of recipients of fuel allowance fluctuates as people join and exit the scheme and as their circumstances change. There was a significant drop in the number of recipients of long-term jobseeker's allowance from 2018 to 2019 and this is reflected in the number of this cohort who were also in receipt of fuel allowance. The number of long-term jobseeker's allowance recipients with fuel allowance fell from 59,961 in December 2018 to 48,689 in December 2019, which was a fall of 11,272 for the scheme. We expand…

In response to Deputy Ring, regarding those aged under 70, I increased the threshold in the budget so that people can earn €200 on top of the contributory pension. People aged under 70 can earn up to €465 and still qualify for the fuel allowance. This Government did a lot in budget 2023 to assist people who need help with the cost of fuel. There was a budget package of €2.2 billion and a major expansion of the fuel allowance. There were also energy credits, which involved €400 being paid to all households in receip…

Moreover, there was a €12 increase in social welfare rates at the beginning of the year.

They are working. People need the payments.

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. The working family payment is an in-work support which provides an income top-up for employees with children on lower earnings designed to prevent in-work poverty. It is a targeted measure that is directly linked to household income and, therefore, directly supports low-income working families. The average weekly payment made to families is currently estimated at €160 per week, which is tax-free. Approximately 48,000 families with 104,000 children are currently in receipt…

I do not have the figures for who should be applying. We can only encourage people to consider the working family payment. It is to help people who are working. We want to encourage people who go to work and support them in doing so. That is the purpose of the working family payment. The online application process replaced a very long paper application form. The removal of the requirement for an employer to sign part of the application is another change aimed at removing barriers for the take-up of the scheme. We h…

The Department of Social Protection wants people to know about these schemes and take them up. They are in place to help people. As the Deputy knows, we have supported people. Budget 2023 included a social welfare package of almost €2.2 billion. There was a double weekly payment in October, a double child benefit payment in November and a Christmas bonus double payment in December. There was also a €500 cost-of-living lump sum payment to recipients of the working family payment in November and a €40 increase in the…