I thank the Deputy.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The back-to-education allowance scheme provides people with a second chance education that will improve their prospects of securing employment. It enables eligible people to pursue approved education courses and continue to receive income support for the duration of a course of study, subject to meeting certain conditions. The provision for the scheme for 2022 is €105.4 million and it is supporting just over 5,500 students. The conditions under which the scheme operates ar…

This scheme was originally intended for people who had not completed their secondary education and wanted to get back to work. The Deputy will appreciate that if we were to say that people could get a payment throughout their education cycle, the costs of funding people the whole way through their education would be significant. We consider that people with primary degrees are well-placed to get jobs. There are exceptions such as the higher diploma in education and master’s in education because people cannot become…

I cannot go into the details of the individual case the Deputy has raised but if he wishes to forward me a note on it, I will be happy to examine the matter.

My Department's allocation of €96.5 million for 2021 has been increased to €105.4 million for 2022. This is a considerable investment in supporting participants to acquire the necessary education and skills to re-enter the labour market. Giving those who already have a degree further supports to obtain a master’s qualification, other than in the exceptional circumstances I mentioned, would create a situation where we end up funding everybody who wants to do a master’s degree. We consider that where people have a th…

I know that.

I thank the Deputy for asking this question. The programme for Government commits to introducing a pensions automatic enrolment system. The objective of this commitment is to increase the proportion of employees in Ireland with supplementary pension cover, which includes both occupational and personal pensions. According to figures from the Central Statistics Office, CSO, the rate of supplementary pension coverage is around 56% of the working population. This is based on the Pension Coverage Survey 2021. It is esti…

As we know, the State pension provides a basic level of income and an effective protection against pensioner poverty. It is not designed or intended to secure full pension adequacy for all retirees in the sense of replacing employment income on retirement. One does have a situation where people have a sudden drop in their income and that is where one needs to have a supplementary pension. Only 35% of private sector employees have a pension. The fear is that when those people reach retirement they will have a huge r…

Yes. Everybody will have to sign up to the system and people will get the choice to opt out at certain stages. We have looked at international experience and, in general, when people sign up for a pension most of them continue. Some younger people will think that if they have saved money and put it into a pension pot for five or six years that they should be allowed access the money. I believe that there is no point having a pension pot and accessing it in order to pay a deposit on a house. I know that dipping into…

My Department understands the many pressures faced by customers and always seeks to ensure that claims are handled quickly and efficiently. I am pleased to report that claim processing is up to date with processing targets met, or exceeded, on average for all the main scheme areas. As an example, over the past two years substantial improvements in processing performance was achieved across most schemes but especially in the carers and disability areas, where claims are now consistently processed within four to five…

For the record, the staff of the Department of Social Protection have processed over 1.8 million applications for the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, alone during the Covid pandemic. There is normally about 200,000 applications per annum for the jobseeker's allowance. We have all acknowledged the good work that my staff have done and it is important that we do not forget that my staff have processed ten years' worth of applications. The Deputy has raised the issue of oral hearing and appeals before with me. I k…

The Deputy is right. It is hard to beat a face-to-face interaction. Many times applications are turned down because all of the information has not been provided and perhaps people are unaware that it was an important piece of information that would help make a decision on their application. We were able to do some oral hearings and appeals online during the Covid pandemic. We continue to use new technology to make our systems more efficient. As the Deputy has said, oral hearings are important. I do not have the fig…

The cost-of-disability research is significantly broader than income supports and it is clear that the findings in the research will have implications for many areas of public policy, including the delivery of care services, health, housing, education, transport and income supports. These relevant Departments have been requested to examine the work they are currently committed to undertaking and review these in the light of the cost-of-disability report. Furthermore, they have been asked that any future actions wou…

Dealing with the cost of disability requires a whole-of-government approach. The reform of disability payments will take on board the recommendations of the report and it is clear a whole-of-government response is needed. There are recommendations in respect of housing, health, education, transport and others, and from a social protection perspective one of the recommendations is a payment linked to disability. The Deputy knows that currently it is a flat rate of €208 whether a person has a mild, moderate or profou…

I agree with the Deputy that we must help more people with disabilities get back to the workforce. That is very important. I worked to extend the Ability programme last year. That was funded through the EU and funding was due to finish but I met the appropriate people and ensured the Dormant Accounts Fund could support this excellent programme. I was given an outline of what the programme does and it really is fantastic work. They are working with people with disabilities and employers. They are getting people back…

I apologise but I did not expect to get to this question.

If that is okay I will get the reply sent to her. We were very quick getting through questions today.

We are here today to speak about violence against women because a young woman with her whole life ahead of her was attacked and murdered in a manner that has shocked us to our core. Ashling Murphy could have lived in any community in this country. She could have been our daughter, sister or friend. The sad reality is that as women, we have grown up expecting to be on guard or feel vulnerable doing simple day-to-day tasks, whether that is walking alone at night, going for a run, waiting for a taxi or bus or sometime…

I know there are some concerns that there might not be enough time to discuss a number of issues relating to the Bill today. I am sure Senators will appreciate the pressure my Department has been under in terms of the pandemic and getting the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, up and running again. I want to make it very clear to Senators that the PUP is open to anybody who loses his or her job as a result of whatever restrictions may be introduced. It is there and is fully available to people who lose their jobs.…

I am familiar with the Bill to regularise some of the undocumented. It is welcome. I can look at the issues around it. I am not familiar with the court case and the rulings arising from it so cannot comment until I see what it is. I will certainly look at it.