Prescribed courses can vary. They can entail community employment and training through SOLAS. We are missing the point here. The point is that Intreo offices provide information on employment opportunities. It is when the long-term unemployed do not engage with or ignore the services of the Intreo offices – “engage” is the most important word here – that they get their payments reduced. Once there is engagement, a discussion and an individual personal progression plan, and once an effort is made to get back to work…

Just because people are getting a higher rate of payment on the jobseeker’s pay-related benefit does not mean they should not continue to look for work. In fact, most people do go back to work between 12 and 14 weeks after losing a job. People naturally want to go back to work. We saw that during the Covid pandemic. What I am saying is that the rules and regulations we are applying here are the exact same as those that apply at the minute to the jobseeker’s benefit. There is nothing different.

To be clear, there is no shift at all. What we are doing is replicating what we are doing already with regard to jobseeker's benefit and applying that to jobseeker's pay-related benefit. It is as simple as that. I cannot accept the amendment.

I am not aware of any instances where a social welfare office sent somebody in on work experience. I do not understand. I am sorry, I genuinely do not understand. There are work placement programmes. There are all sorts of programmes when you engage in job activation, whether the community employment schemes or back to education. There are all sorts of different ways to get back into the workforce and to reskill and upskill. I am not clear on what the Senators are talking about with regard to work experience, but I…

I do not accept this amendment either. For people who may be better off on a payment based on household composition, the means-tested jobseeker's allowance will remain available to them. The nature of pay-related payment is that it is linked to the earnings from employment rather than the household composition. They have the option to go for the jobseeker's allowance instead. I am listening to different scenarios here but in the Department of Social Protection, in the first instance, we are here to help people. We …

To clarify the position for the Senator, those working part-time can continue receiving jobseeker's benefit. The nature of pay-related-----

I am happy to be back in the House for the final debate on this landmark legislation, which represents the single biggest reform of the Irish pension system in the history of the State. I respectfully request the Ceann Comhairle to direct the clerk to make a correction of a typographical nature to the Bill. In this case the word "or" should be inserted after "to" and before "such".

The first group of amendments are of a technical nature and were proposed in the Seanad for the purpose of drafting clarity and cohesion. The drafters in the Office of Parliamentary Counsel who having had some time since the publication of the Bill to review it and to conduct another thorough quality-assurance process on it, found a few things they thought could be improved. A number of these amendments correct typographical errors. Some rephrase provisions for clarity. Some update incorrect cross references. Some …

This group of amendments concerns the definition of "employer" and the amendments were proposed to address what was feared to be a potential gap in the definition where the contractual employer will not be the person paying emoluments. They also update the wording in a number of sections to ensure consistency of language across the Bill. Once again, these amendments were identified by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and none of them relate to substantive policy matters.

This group of amendments relate to the part of the Bill concerning any unclaimed balances of participants' funds and the transfer of these funds to the Dormant Accounts Fund. These amendments were proposed by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel. None of them relates to substantive policy matters and are purely of a technical nature.

This group of amendments concerns Part 6, which relates to the provision of communications and services by the new authority to the AE participants. A number of the amendments relate to the processes applicable to how a communication is made to a participant, while the remainder relate to the provision of participants' annual statements. These amendments were proposed by the drafters to ensure the Bill will operate as intended when it is enacted. They are not policy driven but are, once again, of a technical nature…

-----lesson.

If I might make a closing remark, I thank the Ceann Comhairle for facilitating the Bill in being reported back from the Seanad. I also thank Deputies for their contribution to the debate during its passage through the House. My thanks is also extended to my colleagues in government and, in particular, to the Minister, Deputy Pascal Donohoe, the former Minster, Deputy Michael McGrath, and those across the political spectrum for their support in getting the Bill to this point. I pay a huge thank you to the staff in t…

I am glad to be back in the Seanad again today. As colleagues will be aware, in recent weeks we discussed the long-awaited auto-enrolment Bill. It is an historic piece of work that will benefit 800,000 workers who currently have no occupational pension and I very much look forward to that Bill's enactment in the coming weeks. Today, I bring forward another landmark reform of our social welfare system in the form of pay-related benefit. At the moment, under the current jobseeker's system, if a person who has worked …

I thank the Senators for their contributions to today's debate and for their support so that this landmark Bill can be enacted before the summer recess. The introduction of pay-related benefit is a major reform of the social welfare system in Ireland. It is about supporting people who have worked hard and contributed to the system by ensuring that they have an enhanced safety net in place if they lose their job. It will bring Ireland in line with our European neighbours where pay-related benefits are already the no…

Before I answer the question, would the Ceann Comhairle mind if I paid a short tribute to the late Tommie Gorman? It was with shock and sadness that we learned of Tommie's sudden passing yesterday. He was a true professional and an absolute gentleman. Outside of his job as an RTÉ correspondent, he had a genuine interest in the Northern Ireland peace process. Even though he was retired, he continued to build relationships and break down barriers. Nobody was more committed to public service broadcasting. It was with …

The Deputy knows better than most that we have very good industrial relations machinery within this State. The Labour Court intervened and it has a long history of resolving disputes, as the Deputy and I know well. This dispute will be resolved. They are always resolved in the end, but it is about the pain people have to go through in the interim. We are committed and we have asked the parties to go back to the Labour Court. What we need here is cool heads. We need to leave the egos at the door and get back into th…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. The issue, of course, as we all know, is supply. The only way to address all the issues is to increase supply and the Government has been doing that. Over 32,000 housing units have commenced in the first five months of 2024. That is around the same number as in the whole of 2023. Some 500 individuals or couples are buying their first home every single week, which is also the highest first-time buyer activity since the property crash. No option is off the table when it com…

I thank the Deputy. I am happy to take the example the Deputy has given me and to get the details from her later. I will raise it with the Minister because if there are issues that need to be changed to make it work better, we are happy to take views on board. There is no doubt about that. What I am saying to the Deputy, however, is that we continue to offer a suite of different supports in the housing sector. We believe they are working because, as I said at the outset, 32,000 housing units have commenced in the f…

I thank the Deputy. The point he makes is absolutely correct. There are a lot of fines outstanding there that have not been paid. If a person is due to pay a fine, I think he or she should be paying it. If the person does not pay it, the route is back into court again, as I understand it. Then we will be faced with situations where people who did not pay maybe relatively small fines have been brought back into the courts and may face a custodial sentence. The Deputy knows himself what happens then, and sometimes th…