I thank Senators Higgins and Boylan. As we all know, it is not good practice to put the carrying out of reports into primary legislation We all give out about clunky legislation. I thank the Senators for withdrawing the amendment because we can carry out reports without putting them in primary legislation where they will sit forever. When I give the Senators my word that I will carry out a report, I will do it and they can hold me to account in this House if I do not. On the amendment on parent's benefit and lone p…

Yes, they do.

I thank the Senators for raising this. It was raised in the Dáil too, by Deputies Kerrane and Duncan Smith. While I did not accept it in the Dáil, I gave a commitment that my Department will carry out a report on this issue. We will feed it into the Oireachtas committee. I give that commitment to Senators too. I will ask my officials to carry out a report on the issue. I will refer a report to the Oireachtas committee on gender equality, which I believe is chaired by Deputy Bacik.

I thank the Senator for raising this matter. I am not proposing to accept the amendment because it would replicate the work already undertaken by the Commission on Pensions. That commission has completed its work and its report was published on 7 October. I do not know if the Senator has had the chance to read the report but it is hundreds of pages long. To be quite honest, at this stage we have reports coming out of ears that relate to pensions and I want to see action. It is what we need. The Government is consid…

I thank Senator Higgins for raising this matter. As she knows, the Indecon report has been published. To be fair, we do not always need reports to do good work. I will tell the House about the relevant matters that are in the current budget. In particular, we targeted carers and people with disabilities. The capital and savings disregard for the carer's allowance will increase from €20,000 to €50,000 from January. Weekly income disregard for carer's allowance will increase to €350 per week for a single carer and €7…

The public services card predates my time in the Department. I welcome the fact this case has been settled. It is a good outcome for everybody. In fairness, that has been acknowledged by both the Department and the Data Protection Commissioner in recent days. My priority and, ultimately, the priority of the Government is to ensure that people can access services in an efficient way. The settlement means that the Department can still process and issue PSCs for people to use. It means that more than 3.5 million peopl…

I am very pleased to bring this Bill to Seanad Éireann which gives legislative effect to the measures announced on budget day. This is the largest set of social welfare measures announced in 14 years and amounts to some €558 million in additional spending in 2022. Most of the additional expenditure, over two thirds of the total, will go towards protecting core rates of payment for social welfare recipients as committed to in the programme for Government. As such, the provisions of the Bill give effect to across-the…

That is perfect.

I thank all the Senators for their contributions to the Bill today. There was a wide range of matters raised and I will try to go through some of them shortly. Like all Members of this House, I meet people in my constituency and discuss the matters that affect their lives. I fully recognise the importance of our social protection system. As a former credit union manager, I know all too well the real-life examples of people who, when they fall on hard times, need the support of the Department of Social Protection. S…

They can get back on it.

The Deputy is a great dancer.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. It is not good practice to put references to the presentation of reports in primary legislation. All of us in this House give out about chunky Bills. The recent practice of requiring reports on legislation does not achieve anything. I can produce reports without having them provided for in primary legislation. When I give my word in this Chamber or at a meeting of a committee that I will produce a report, the Deputy will be able to hold me to account on that. I ask that re…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I understand what she is trying to achieve. It is an awful time for any parent when he or she loses a child. Caring leave such as force majeure and parental leave is, again, the policy responsibility of my colleague, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman. He is looking at the issue of bereavement leave, in particular for women who suffer miscarriages. I asked my officials to raise this matter with his Department in order t…

The Government is keen to support people with disabilities to engage in employment. In last year's budget, I increased the earnings disregard from €120 to €140 for both disability allowance and the blind pension. This means that the first €140 of weekly earnings is fully disregarded in a means assessment. In this year's budget, I announced that the earnings threshold, above which all means is fully assessed, is to be increased for both payments. This will be done by regulation. I am also increasing the general mean…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. The Government has committed to applying a benchmarking and indexation approach to State pension rates. The roadmap for social inclusion also contains a commitment to prepare a report for the Government on the potential application of the benchmarking approach to other welfare payments. I understand that my officials are working on that. Significant work has been carried out to develop a methodology for benchmarking and indexing State pension rates. This proposed approach h…

I move amendment No. 5: In page 10, line 15, after "benefit" to insert "and jobseeker’s benefit (self-employed)". Following publication of the Bill the officials realised that jobseeker's benefit for the self-employed should also have been specified in the Bill to make it clear the increase of €5 as announced on budget day should apply equally to these recipients. I have tabled these amendments to correct the omission in the published Bill and ensure that recipients of jobseeker's benefit for the self-employed also…

I move amendment No. 6: In page 11, line 6, after "benefit" to insert "and jobseeker’s benefit (self-employed)".

I thank Deputy Naughten for raising this issue. I fully understand the points he is making. I accept the age profile of the suckler herd owners is increasing and there are challenges. We have to try to address some of these challenges so that young people can get an opportunity. I know the Deputy wants to see the income disregard introduced for older farmers who lease out their land. He raised it on Second Stage. As the Deputy is aware, the Bill extensively extends the list of agri-environment schemes that attract …

I thank Deputies Naughten and Kerrane for raising this matter. I understand why we need to compile such a report, and that is okay. I am happy to do the report, although I would prefer not to put this in legislation, as I have said, because it makes the process clunky. I am happy to give a commitment to carry out a report on the inclusion of all half-rate carer’s allowance recipients under the fuel allowance scheme. I will ask my officials to do that and bring the report before the House. The fuel allowance is curr…

The fuel allowance is a non-statutory scheme so it does not need legislation. I give a commitment that I will look at this and see what I can do. Is that okay?