I thank the Deputy. I know many people who pick mushrooms and people who own the businesses and in fairness to the mushroom farmers of Monaghan, I have not come across any cases where people have been exploited.

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I will continue. I said I have not come across a case. That is not to say it is not happening but I have not come across a case. There are opportunities for people to work in many different sectors when they come here. I have people from the IT sector and the engineering sector contacting me to say they will have work for many of the migrants who are coming. First of all, we need to help these people get settled here. Work is not the first priority - that is getting them settled. I was out at Dublin Airport and I s…

I thank the Deputy for raising this. To provide support for those facing challenges with the cost of living, the Government brought in a package of tax and social welfare measures worth over €1 billion last October in budget 2022. This was the largest social welfare package in 14 years. Last month, the Government agreed a further package of €505 million, including the €200 energy credit and a lump sum payment of €125 for those in receipt of the fuel allowance. The supplementary welfare allowance is a demand-led sch…

I thank the Deputy. We have been promoting both the exceptional needs payment and the urgent needs payment as part of the supplementary welfare allowance on our social media. I have asked my officials to ensure people are aware of that. The one thing we do not want it is for people to be in difficulty and not realise they can access these payments. The Department of the Social Protection is here to help, not to put barriers in people's way. One only has to look at what was done during the pandemic and how we are re…

Given that we have the exceptional needs payment as well as the urgent needs payment, we should be calling this just the needs payment. It does not matter how much someone works - if he or she has an urgent need, he or she can approach a community welfare officer and ask for assistance. The rule on 30 hours working is not stopping people from getting support. There are two strands - essential needs and urgent needs. The rule is not depriving people of support. The urgent needs payment has no cap. It is demand led a…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The school meals programme provides funding towards the provision of food to 1,506 schools and organisations, benefiting 230,000 children. The objective of the programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children who are unable, due to lack of good quality food, to take full advantage of the education provided to them. The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and educational achievement. The programme provides funding towar…

I am committed to the school meals programme, so much so that we have increased the hot school meals programme from a pilot of 37 schools to almost 300. This is a good thing. During the 2020-21 academic year, 804 DEIS schools participated in the school meals programme, benefiting 148,594 children. Those 804 schools represented 91% of the 887 DEIS schools in the country. The Deputy asked about the criteria. All 3,239 primary schools were issued an invitation to submit an expression of interest about participating in…

We are increasing it, but instead of increasing the numbers, I want to see there being more hot school meals. They are a little more expensive, but a hot school meal for a child in the middle of the day is worth its weight in gold. We all know from packing school lunch boxes with cold meals that children take a bite of them but are then away and gone. Having spoken with teachers and parents, they value hot school meals. We cannot do everything in one day and must instead do it incrementally. I would love to see eve…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Fuel allowance is paid to social welfare recipients such as pensioners, people with disabilities, lone parents and the long-term unemployed in recognition of the fact that they have a long-term financial dependence on a social welfare payment for all or most of their income.  It is not paid to people in receipt of illness benefit who have an attachment to the labour market and who are in receipt of short-term welfare supports. Fuel allowance can only be paid if the qualify…

As I said, in this year's budget I increased the means threshold by €20 to €120 above the appropriate contributory State pension. That has benefited more people. More than 400,000 families benefit from the fuel allowance. There will always be people who, unfortunately, fall each side of the criteria. Those in need can seek assistance from their local community welfare officers. They are there to help people who are in difficulty by way of the essential needs payment or the urgent needs payment. People can seek that…

We have increased the fuel allowance. Last year, the fuel allowance was €784. This year, it is €1,049. When one adds to that the €200 energy credit, there has been a 60% increase in the fuel allowance in comparison with last year. I understand that things are not easy for people. The Government is doing everything it can to try to assist, but it cannot cover all of these costs that are an issue not only in Ireland but across the globe. We know the challenges we are facing because of the war in Ukraine. It must be r…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The working family payment scheme is a demand-led scheme and is not budget capped. Based on current and projected claim volumes, my Department estimates expenditure of €348.6 million for the scheme in 2022. In budget 2022, I provided for an increase in €10 per week in the working family payment income thresholds for all families. It is estimated that 45,000 recipients, with 103,000 children, will benefit from this measure. This increase was originally scheduled to come int…

To qualify for the working family payment the average total weekly family income must be below the relevant income threshold for the family's size. The payment is calculated at 60% of the difference between the total family income and the income threshold that applies to the family. The rate of payment for those in receipt of the working family payment varies, depending on the number of children in the family, the level of hourly earnings, the number of hours worked and the level of other welfare payments, if any. …

The Deputy is right that sometimes people are not aware of the many different supports that are available. I believe my Department makes more than 80 different payments, so there are quite a few of them. Citizens Information is a very good organisation and has good information on its website. To qualify for the working family payment a person must be engaged in paid employment, as an employee, which is expected to last for at least three months, and be working for a minimum of 38 hours per fortnight. A couple may c…

Fuel allowance is paid to social welfare recipients such as pensioners, people with disabilities, lone parents and the long-term unemployed in recognition of their long-term financial dependence on their social welfare payment for all or most of their income. The reason jobseeker's benefit, illness benefit, enhanced illness benefit and maternity benefit are not qualifying payments for fuel allowance is that in the vast majority of cases they are short-term payments for those who suffer a short period of interruptio…

I understand the issue with regard to people on the disability payment. I, too, have a constituent who has been out sick with a bad back for the past two to three months. She asked me if she could get the fuel allowance and I had to explain to her that she could not because she was outside the criteria. The payment is framed in this way in order to direct the limited resources available to my Department in as targeted a manner as possible. To qualify for the fuel allowance payment, a person must satisfy all the qua…

The review is being carried out and I look forward to seeing what it has to say. There are always cases where you would love people to be getting something but unfortunately, when there are criteria some people will fall outside them and some will qualify. In budget 2022, the Government committed to very significant increases in a targeted package of social protection supports. The qualified child payment was increased by €2 per week for children under 12 and €3 per week for children over 12. The living alone allow…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The Government is committed to protecting vulnerable households from the impact of energy costs. As part of the overall welfare budget package of €600 million in increases secured for 2022, I increased the fuel allowance payment by €5 per week, effective from budget night. I also increased the weekly income threshold for fuel allowance by €20, which enables more people to qualify for this support. Further Government measures were recently announced to help to mitigate the …

The Government recognises the impact rising energy prices are having on people. That is why we have acted to assist families. We have brought forward a series of measures that cost over €1 billion to help to ease the burden on people. Last year, the fuel allowance was €784. This year it is €1,049 when the €125 lump sum payment is included. Adding on the €200 energy credit brings it up to €1,249. Compared with the €784 from last year, that is a 60% increase in the fuel allowance. In monetary terms, if my calculation…