I thank the Deputy for highlighting the issues and challenges that one-parent families face. I will give a broader picture of what we have been doing to date. In 2023, the employer relations division delivered 1,387 employment engagement activities, and almost 2,000 activities to support recruitment. Included in this were 610 events such as career fairs, employer roadshows, recruitment events and general information events. During these events, a full presentation of departmental services and programmes was made. T…

The Deputy has mentioned a very specific sector there and I know Intreo services do look at skills shortages, try to match people with them and work with industry as well. We will take that point back to see if that is not already in the mix with regard to what Intreo is doing. Figures provided by the CSO find that the employment rate for lone parents has increased from 64.8% in quarter 2 of 2019 to 67.1% in quarter 2 of 2023. There was a drop during the Covid-19 pandemic but we are back on the right trajectory. Se…

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I am sorry.

This Government acknowledges the important role that carers play and is fully committed to supporting them in that role. Accordingly, the current State contributory pension system provides measures including PRSI credits, home-making disregards and the home caring periods to recognise caring periods of up to 20 years outside of paid employment in the calculation of a payment rate. Last September, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, announced a series of landmark reforms to the State pension system. The measures are in …

The short answer to the Deputy's first question is that I understand that is the case. I will read out some detail on that with regard to the evidence that people can provide to prove those 20 years. If a customer was in receipt of carer's allowance, carer's benefit, the carer's support grant or the domiciliary care allowance, he or she will have met the qualifying conditions for the pension caring support. For long-term carers' contributions, this will also require a duration of care of over 20 years. If a person …

I cannot confirm that. I do not know the status of the means test, in particular with regard to carers. There is an overall review of means testing in general, of which that may be a part. If that is the case, it will not be implemented on 1 January 2024 but I am open to correction on that. There have already been 1,000 applications in the new credits system for the State contributory pension system for carers. We expect that when people become eligible for it we should be able to turn decisions around in a few wee…

Qualification for the contributory State pension is based on a number of criteria, including a minimum of 520 qualifying social insurance contributions having been paid. As the actuarial value of the State pension is currently estimated at approximately €380,000, it is reasonable to require people claiming a contributory pension to have made at least ten years of paid contributions over the term of their working life before qualifying for a payment. When a person reaches State pension age and does not satisfy the c…

The Deputy is referring to the broader challenges of the ageing population in the years ahead. I may touch on that context in some of the proposals in the reform of the pension system. These include flexibility of the age of drawdown, which will be introduced from January. A person with less than 40 years of contributions may be able to use the period between the ages of 66 and 70 years to build up additional entitlements. The long-term sustainability of the State pension system is to be addressed through gradual i…

I will take Deputy Ó Cuív's query on board. I am not sure it is doable. From queries I have received, for some people aged 66 who are working and have got the contributory pension, it is a disincentive because they are paying more tax, whereas this measure will help them. It is not quite what the Deputy mentioned but it is related. On Deputy Durkan's point, there will be a ten-year phase of full transition to the total contributions approach, together with a phased abolition of the yearly average approach. Workers …

The roadmap for social inclusion contains a commitment to develop a benchmarking approach for use in adjusting the value of State pension payments. The approach proposed by the Department, known as the smoothed earnings approach, was subsequently endorsed by the Pensions Commission. I am pleased to say that the Government subsequently agreed the Department of Social Protection would, in submitting budget options, set out the rate of pension payment using the smoothed earnings benchmark approach, and can confirm tha…

I agree with the Deputy's sentiments, and I support the benchmarking approach. I will give a little detail on it. The Government decision specified that calculation be submitted to Government as an input to its deliberations. This is because it is important the Government retains the ability to explore various options based on prevailing circumstances. In the case of the budgets in 2023 and 2024, the Government decided it was preferable to front-load the payments in order that people would have money when they most…

I will take the Deputy's point about the delays in processing disability payments back to the Minister. This is the first budget with benchmarking even in the mix. There is a stronger role for it going forward to ensure adequacy. We continue to see social transfers having a significant impact on reducing poverty and income inequality. Ireland remains one of the most effective countries in the EU in this regard. The at-risk of poverty rate before social transfers was 36% in 2022. This reduced to 13% after transfers …

I am not sure if the Deputy was in the Chamber earlier but at risk of repeating myself, I will give the answer and we can elaborate and go a different direction with it. My Department operates a number of employment support schemes including community employment, Tús and the rural social scheme for long-term unemployed persons and low-income farmers. I acknowledge the important role played by Tús supervisors in providing valuable opportunities to participants, and in supporting the delivery of key services to local…

With a view to getting the best outcome for everyone, I will not get into the nitty-gritty of this. We have had two successful processes over the past couple of years in terms of securing the gratuity and the 5% increase for CE supervisors. I have put a lot of work into those two processes in the background. I have been asked questions about them, while they were in process, in this Chamber. For the benefit of those processes, I have held off on the detail. I will say that negotiations are not complete. To my knowl…

This is the third pay-related issue in which I have been involved. I worked to progress the previous two issues. We got the gratuity issue sorted, which was going on for a very long time. It came to my table, I progressed it and now it is done. We also had the pay claim issue and we worked through that as quickly as we could. The 5% increase has been done now, with the first part given earlier this year and the second half in November. Now this third issue is on my table. The best reassurance I can give the Deputy …

I welcome the visitors in the Gallery. The Government committed, as part of the Roadmap for Social Inclusion, to develop and consult on proposals to restructure long-term disability payments and simplify the system. The consultation process has been ongoing since the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, launched the Green Paper on disability reform in September. I emphasise that the Green Paper is a consultation document, not a final reform design. It sets out one possible approach for the purpose of inviting discussion, in…

We need to heed the issues the Deputy has raised. I urge individuals and groups to view the Green Paper as an opportunity to detail and express the barriers they face in society that prevent them from participating at an equal level. They include financial barriers and physical barriers in workplaces and public infrastructure. Crucially, as the Deputy referred to, there are also barriers of preconceptions and prejudices among employers. The Green Paper will give us an opportunity to talk about all these issues and,…

As a Department, we have a responsibility to listen to and take on board people's experiences with Intreo. I know that good work is done, but as I said, the voices of people with disabilities are key in this regard. I thought the Deputy might ask me about the film. I have not seen it, but my understanding is that it is about the UK context. I understand, from what I have heard about it, why people might be fearful. This is Ireland and I believe we do things differently here, notwithstanding that people are concerne…

Domiciliary care allowance is a monthly payment to a parent or guardian in respect of a child aged under 16 who has a severe disability and requires care and attention substantially over and above that usually needed by a child of the same age. This care and attention must be given by another person, effectively full-time, so that the child can deal with the activities of daily living. The child must be likely to require this level of care and attention for at least 12 months. The number of applications for domicil…