My Department has no scheme in respect of uillean pipe makers. The legislative provision in the Social Welfare Bill 2022 follows directly on foot of a provision of the Finance Bill 2022, which inserted a new section 216F into the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997. This new section provides for an exemption from income tax up to €20,000 for certain profits arising from the production, maintenance and repair of certain musical instruments. Accordingly, it is necessary to provide that such exempted income remains assessabl…

Harping, uilleann piping and hurling are synonymous with Ireland's national identity and have gained the international recognition they so richly deserve. I was genuinely delighted to see in this year's Finance Bill that, following discussions with my colleagues the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, and the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, the latter made provision for an income tax relief related to the manufacturing, maintenance and repair of sets of ui…

As a first step, the Deputy should raise the matter with the Minister for Finance. It was great that the crafts were recognised by UNESCO. A lot of work was done by the GAA. It put in the application. I believe camogie was included. It is important that we recognise these traditions. The problem with ash dieback is concerning. I will leave it at that. Perhaps the Deputy will submit a question for the Minister for Finance.

I thank Deputy Moynihan for raising this matter. The main income supports to carers provided by my Department include the carer's allowance, carer's benefit, domiciliary care allowance and carer's support grant. Spending on these in 2022 is expected to be in excess of €1.5 billion. The carer's benefit is a payment made to insured people who leave the workforce to care for someone in need of full-time care and attention. A person may be eligible for the carer's benefit if he or she has sufficient PRSI contributions.…

No more than the Deputy, I meet carers all the time in my constituency office. We help them to fill out the forms and follow up on their applications. The carers do great work. It is particularly difficult when we see a mother who has had to give up work in order to care for a child full-time. One of my priorities when I became Minister for Social Protection was to do whatever I could to support our carers because I know well the huge work they do and contribution they make to our society. In my first budget in the…

I take on board the points made by the Deputy. As part of our State pension reforms, I am committed to providing a pension to our long-term carers. We are doing a lot of work to support carers, which is absolutely right because they do wonderful work. I take on board the points the Deputy has made regarding carer's benefit. All benefit payments are time-bound. I will discuss the points he has made with my officials. As Minister for Social Protection, my number one aim is to keep people out of poverty. In order to s…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 70 and 128 together. Fuel allowance is a means-tested payment to assist pensioners and other low-income households with their winter heating costs. I was very conscious, when addressing my budget priorities for 2023, that many families and older people fall just outside the qualifying threshold for the fuel allowance. It was an absolute priority for me to expand the reach of the scheme. I was, therefore, pleased, as part of the social protection budget 2023 package of €2.2 billion, …

As I said, during the budget one of the measures I was keen to prioritise was an expansion of the fuel allowance for older people. Both Deputies Carey and Griffin raised those issues with me. They said that a lot of pensioners do not qualify for the fuel allowance. I listen to what is said across the House, not just on one side. The evidence is there that older people are more vulnerable to the cold. The one thing I do not want to see as a Minister is a situation where an old person is afraid to turn on the heat. W…

There are 372,000 recipients of fuel allowance. We are expecting about 81,000 people to apply, although we do not know exactly what the number will be. We will have an online form out before Christmas. We will have it out as soon as we can. We are working on it and the officials have been working long hours to design it because you have to be careful with anything that goes online. There will be a paper form in due course but speed is of the essence. I am sure there will be plenty of young people around over Christ…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Illness benefit is the primary short-term income support provided by my Department to those who are unable to work due to illness of any type and who are covered by social insurance. Eligibility for illness benefit depends on the person’s PRSI record and class. People must have made the required number of contributions in class A, E, H or P to qualify. In general, self-employed people make PRSI contributions at class S, which does not count towards eligibility for illness…

I will have to ask if I can get the figures for the Deputy. I am happy to do that. Did he say he wants to know how many qualified for the invalidity pension?

I will see if I can get the figures and I will send them to the Deputy. To be fair, we have made a significant number of changes for the self-employed in the past six or seven years or more. I remember when self-employed people got nothing. We have made a lot of progress in that regard. They now receive more than 90% of the other benefits when they pay their PRSI. They pay 4% in total, which is fair enough, but if we are to give them more benefits, we will have to have a conversation about increasing PRSI. I want t…

The introduction of a pensions auto-enrolment system is a programme for Government commitment and a key priority for me as Minister for Social Protection. As the Deputy will know, under auto-enrolment, employees will have access to a workplace pension savings scheme, co-funded by their employer and the State. For every €3 workers pay into it, they will have another €4 credited to their account, and the contributions will then be invested. The additional €4 consists of €3 from the employer and €1 from the State. Thi…

Auto-enrolment has been talked about for decades. The auto-enrolment train is now on the tracks and is leaving the station. The design has been finalised. Anybody who does not have a private occupational pension will be automatically enrolled. People are joined up and there are breaks allowed for different reasons. I do not have all the information in my head as it is getting late, but a person can opt out for a period, such as six months. We will put people back in again and we will keep putting them in. As Deputy…

It has been raised with me that some people may have personal retirement savings accounts, PRSAs. The exemption of participants and employers from auto-enrolment based on their engagement with existing occupational pension schemes and PRSAs will likely be based on minimum requirement standards. My officials are currently working out the detail of how this will work for the purposes of the legislation, and in terms of the automation of the system. My understanding and preference is that no participant should be in a…

My Department is aware of reports that people have received scam calls purporting to be from departmental officials. Thankfully, there has been a significant decline in the reported instances, from more than 1,500 last year to fewer than 120 this year. These scam phone calls and text messages are seeking personal information, for example, a PPS number and bank account details. The focus of the Department's response has been on the provision of information to the public so that people are aware that these calls are …

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter because it is very important. Unfortunately, we will all know stories of people who have received text messages that drew them into a link that turned out to be fake and a scam. I urge people not to give their bank details to anybody, and the same is true of social protection. People should not give out their PPS number; the Department will not call people looking for that sort of information. The Department is very proactive in this space, and flashes and alerts warn peopl…

I would say to people that if they are in doubt, they should leave it out and not go near the message or call because these people are professionals and they want to take people's money. That is the bottom line. We will continue to raise awareness about the issue. On Black Friday, there was a lot of online activity and many more of these criminals may have been trying to tap into vulnerable people. I would be happy for post offices to put up notices. I am sure we have provided them as well and we are happy to do th…

The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food services to 1,600 schools and organisations benefiting 260,000 children. The objective of the programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children to position them to take full advantage of the education provided to them. The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and greater educational achievement. Budget 2022 provided €68.1 million for the programme, with an additional €9 million provided to …

The Minister of State and I are fully committed to the school meals programme. The evaluation is being carried out, and if it recommends an increase in the rates, I will fully support that. If we are going to give children a good, hot dinner in the middle of the day - nothing can beat that - my aim, and I am sure that of the Deputy, is that every child in this country, regardless of his or her socioeconomic background, should get that hot school meal. It makes such a difference. I am happy to examine the rates but …