I thank the Senator for raising the matter as it provides me with the opportunity to clarify how the Department plans for school places and specifically the position in relation to Duleek. I wish to advise the Senator that requirements for additional school places is kept under ongoing review in the context of available information on population, enrolments and residential development activity. To plan for school provision and analyse the relevant demographic data, the Department divides the country into 314 school…

I thank Senator Keogan for giving me the opportunity to address this issue. I have laid out the criteria the Department uses for assessment. They are fairly comprehensive on the population side and in the broader context of the school options available. However, I assure the Senator the Department will continue to monitor demographic projections and enrolments in the area to ensure all pupils have access to a school place.

It is a pleasure to be able to bring this Bill before Seanad Éireann. The main purpose of the Bill is to give legislative effect to several of the very substantial improvements in social protection that were announced on budget day. In addition, this year, we are introducing a set of provisions to implement the biggest ever structural reform of the State pension system, which has been agreed by the Government in response to the recommendations of the Pensions Commission. We all agree that at the heart of our social…

I thank Senators for their constructive engagement. I will do my best to answer queries. To answer Senator Burke's initial question, the pension will be based on the higher rate. On the jury service issue, we will talk to the Minister for Justice regarding giving an allowance in the circumstances he outlined. With regards to Senators Burke's and Craughwell's point about class K PRSI, prior to its introduction in 2011, public officeholders did not pay PRSI on the income they received in that capacity. Under budget 2…

The wage subsidy scheme is an employment support to private sector employers, the objective of which is to encourage employment of people with disabilities in the open labour market. There are currently 1,515 employers on the scheme in respect of some 2,436 participant employees. Estimated expenditure on the wage subsidy scheme in 2023 is €24 million. To claim a subsidy under the scheme, the private sector employer must offer employment to a person with a disability for at least 21 hours per week and up to 39 hours…

We had a four-week consultation process in June with people with disabilities, employers and the public and received over 1,000 submissions. As part of the budget we allocated an additional €3.7 million to expand the scheme. This will reduce the minimum number of hours required. The increase in the previous budget was a significant one and we are now in a situation where employers are getting almost half of the minimum wage, which is substantial. I expect that increased awareness of, and improvements to, the scheme…

It is important that we look at all barriers that people with disabilities face in trying to access employment. The wage subsidy scheme is an important assistance to employers and employees to get through some of those barriers. The Department recognises the additional challenges that some people with disabilities may experience in securing and maintaining employment and contracts a specialist employment service, called EmployAbility, to help to address this. A job seeker with a disability who is working with his o…

The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, recently secured the approval of the Government to proceed with design proposals for a new pay-related benefit for jobseekers. This represents a fundamental reform of the social welfare system and will ensure that people with long work histories will receive enhanced benefits if they lose their employment. The pay-related benefit will be available to newly unemployed employees who have a strong and recent attachment to the labour market, and who are available for and genuinely seekin…

I disagree with the Deputy's assertion. I will make two key points regarding the caps and the new benefits. Earnings are subject to a maximum of €450 for the first three months; the rate will reduce to 55%, subject to a maximum of €375, for the following three months; and a further three months will be paid at a rate of 50% to a maximum of €300. Those caps will ensure that the benefit is pushed down to those who are lower paid. As is the case with jobseeker's benefit at present, there will be situations, although a…

That characterisation is inaccurate in terms of the expectation that people will be on €125 a week. The bottom level is €300. There are other aspects to the system as well. The logic of this is to follow European norms where we can avoid a cliff edge as regards the drop in income people face, if they are unlucky enough to lose their jobs. A recent classic example of that is the issue of Tara Mines, whose workers, unfortunately, will not benefit from this, but the scheme will improve situations for workers in genera…

I will take Deputy Ó Laoghaire's question first, but I will address the other matter. My Department operates a number of employment support schemes, including community employment, CE, Tús and the rural social scheme for long-term unemployed persons and low-income farmers. At the outset, I acknowledge the important role that Tús and RSS supervisors play in providing valuable opportunities to participants, and in supporting the delivery of key services to local communities throughout the country. It should be noted …

The Deputy is right that the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform has a key role in this. The Deputy provided some detail. I am not sure some of it is correct in terms of what has been agreed. There is a willingness on our side to discuss the issue. I do not want to get into negotiations on the floor of the House on what is doable or not. We had to postpone the previously scheduled meeting but I expect the rescheduled meeting will take place before Christmas. That is my ex…

I have done specific work to ensure community employment supervisors got their pension and gratuity over the last couple of years and, in particular, on the 5% across-the-board pay increases for CE, Tús and RSS supervisors. We now have this additional ask. While it is not without merit, we have to look at it carefully. We are amenable to discussing and talking. The Deputy asked a specific question about when the next meeting will be held. I do not know. That is the honest answer but my understanding is that it will…

The Government acted early and without hesitation to support all workers who contracted Covid-19 during the pandemic. Workers could avail of an enhanced illness benefit payment and eligibility criteria were set to include the largest cohort of workers possible, including the self-employed. The scheme paid some 578,000 claims at a cost of over €350 million. A temporary scheme of paid leave was developed by the Department of Health for certain public health sector employees who were unfit for work after a Covid-19 in…

I cannot comment on the Department of Health scheme that covers healthcare workers, as I do not know the ins and outs of it. However, we all agree that healthcare workers faced specific dangers and vulnerabilities that were different from those faced by many other workers who, we suspect, contracted Covid mainly through community transmission. Covid, as the World Health Organization has recognised, is now endemic. It is an illness similar in status to the flu, for example, in that it causes significant problems but…

The last impression I want to give is that we are brushing this disease under the carpet. Long Covid is very real. I know a number of people who still have it. There has been a significant response to the reality of long Covid from the Department of Health with the opening of a number of clinics and the expansion of clinics across the country to help people deal with it and to find solutions to it. This Department has a role for people unable to work due to illness. At the moment, that role fits in with our mainstr…

I again acknowledge the important role RSS and Tús supervisors play in supporting the delivery of key services to local communities across the country and in providing valuable opportunities to participants. I assure the Deputy that my Department is very conscious of the vital role of supervisors within these work programmes. While RSS and Tús supervisors are employees of the individual implementing bodies and neither the Department nor the State is the employer of this group of workers, officials in my Department …

I am loath to get into figures, numbers and the details of negotiations. It would not be helpful to anyone. We are talking. We recognise there is an issue. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and I have proven in the past couple of years that CE, Tús and RSS supervisors have legitimate arguments to make on pay rates and the gratuity issue, which has been resolved. I do not want to be seen to be stonewalling. I have tried to keep an open door in relation to issues around pay parity, as have my officials. I cannot go int…

I know there was a meeting scheduled with officials for last month. There was a genuine reason that did not happen. There was no policy decision not to meet them or to wait and hold off. That was not the case. I think and hope, but do not want to guarantee here on the floor, that the meeting will be rescheduled for some time before Christmas. It depends on people’s availability. I meet with the key officials weekly on CE, RSS and Tús. We are in close communication. There is a reason we are at the table. It is that …

In addition to income supports, my Department provides a wide range of employment supports and services designed to assist lone parents to enter or return to employment. Both the one-parent family payment and the jobseeker’s transitional payment have been designed to support persons to pursue their individual employment goals. These schemes include an earnings disregard whereby the first €165 of weekly earnings is not assessed as part of the means test. In addition, 50% of earnings above €165 per week is disregarde…