I thank the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman. As is evident from the White Paper we published at the end of February, our intention is to create a new system of support for international protection applicants that is fundamentally different from the current model. We need a system that meets the needs of applicants and enables them to contribute positively to Irish life. I have visited many direct provision centres in my day. They vary quite a lot. Many have a hollow, disconnected and disjointed feel to them, a feeling of…

I thank the Senator for consistently raising this matter. Community employment, CE, is the largest employment activation and training programme administered by the Department of Social Protection. One of its main objectives is to provide work experience and targeted training interventions for long-term unemployed people to assist them to find new jobs. The CE programme is delivered by independent CE sponsoring authorities that receive public funding. The total expenditure for CE in 2020 was €341 million, while the …

I absolutely agree with the Senator on the role CE schemes will hopefully play going forward. Last year, 3,000 additional CE places were announced in the July stimulus. We have been putting out feelers about the levels of interest in them and the levels are good. Schemes such as community employment will play a central part in bringing communities back from where we have been over the last 12 months. I formally acknowledge the valuable and dedicated service of CE supervisors provide in running CE schemes and delive…

I thank the Senator for raising this important point. As he is aware, the current public health restrictions at level 5 will remain in place until 5 April 2021, when a further review will be conducted. The decision took account of a variety of factors, including the views of the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, on the current epidemiological situation of Covid-19 and the need to take decisive action. The Government remains united in its resolve to tackle the spread of Covid-19. The disease prevention a…

I again thank the Senator for raising this important matter today. The Government appreciates that individuals in society have been severely impacted by the pandemic and the necessary public health restrictions imposed over the last year. Ultimately, the Government remains united in its resolve to tackle the spread of Covid-19 and that is its priority. We continue to see good progress but this needs to be sustained. We have more than 232,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland. The Government is concerned that, …

I thank the Senator for raising this important matter. Facilities like community centres form the core of many communities around the country and help to bring people of all backgrounds and ages together for many different types of activity and event. During normal times, they regularly have a positive impact on our communities, as all Senators would agree. The possibility of a community centre capital programme similar to the sports capital programme that is run by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltac…

The Senator has my commitment that I will engage with the Minister on this matter. The Senator outlined the situation around community centres in general very well in his opening statement in that every community centre in the country probably has a different story behind how it came about, often with communities actually building them, and more recently communities themselves directly contributing, along with local authorities and sometimes central government. They are often anchored in a school, GAA club or local…

I welcome the Senator's call for ambition on this subject. While I will touch on the glass issue in a moment, in an initial statement I am happy to update Members on progress on this matter this morning. Members will be aware that plans for the introduction of a deposit return scheme, DRS, for plastic bottles and aluminium cans were announced in last year’s programme for Government. A deposit return scheme for plastic bottles and cans involves the application of a refundable deposit to incentivise consumers to retu…

On the variable charge, I would suggest that there will be an opening for that point to be made in the consultation process that will be coming up. On glass, many of the submissions received in the first round of public consultation on the introduction of the DRS called for glass to be included. The DRS facilitates a high rate of recyclability because the material collected in it is generally not contaminated. Ireland, through its bring bank collection system, already achieves a high rate of glass recycling. The mo…

I thank the Deputies for raising this issue. I will give some context first. On 6 January, the Government announced that additional public health restrictions would apply under level 5 of the plan for living with Covid-19. The additional restrictions required all construction activity to cease from 6 p.m. on Friday, 8 January, with a number of exceptions. These measures are set out in the Health Act 1947 (Section 31A - Temporary Restrictions) (Covid-19) (No. 10) Regulations 2020, as amended. With regard to private …

The exceptional needs payment scheme is available to provide supports to people who may be experiencing exceptional needs as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. I appreciate that current restrictions on construction have had a significant unforeseen impact on households that began renovations on family homes prior to the introduction of the current level 5 restrictions, and particularly on those who had to vacate their homes to seek alternative accommodation once renovation started. Those affected can access MABS, w…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Community employment is an active labour market programme designed to provide eligible long-term unemployed people and other disadvantaged persons with an opportunity to engage in useful work within their communities on a temporary, fixed-term basis. Since the start of the pandemic, we have approved the extension of CE participant contracts that would have come to an end during level 5 restrictions on a number of occasions. To date, more than 5,000 community employment an…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I also place a major emphasis on the importance of CE schemes. I am aware of the CE recruitment challenges arising from the current restrictions, which has had an impact on the ability of some CE schemes to recruit new participants. Community employment is an active labour market programme designed to provide eligible long-term unemployed people and other disadvantage persons with an opportunity to engage in useful work within their communities on a temporary fixed-term b…

I thank the Senator for raising this important matter. It is important to also point out that the pension age has been 66 for a long time and, in accordance with legislation introduced last year, it will not increase this year but remain at that age. The new benefit payment for 65-year-olds was introduced to deliver on a programme for Government commitment to address the position of people who retire at the age of 65. "Retire at 65" is an important phrase. In many cases, it is not because they want to but because t…

I thank the Senator again for his contribution. Up to now, a person who retired at 65 because that was the retirement age in his or her contract of employment could only avail of an income support if he or she signed on at the local Intreo centre for jobseeker's benefit and declared that they were available for and genuinely seeking work. We all agreed that this was not a satisfactory position and that we should find a way to support a person who had to retire at age 65 without obliging him or her to sign on. That …

I thank Senator Ahearn for raising this important issue. The Ability programme was introduced in June 2018 as pre-activation programme for young people with disabilities. Funding for this programme amounts to €16 million over a three-year period and it is being provided jointly under the European Social Fund employability inclusion and learning operational programme and the Exchequer with funding from the Dormant Accounts Fund, which falls under the remit of the Departments of Social Protection and Rural and Commun…

I thank the Senator again for raising the issue. As Minister of State with responsibility for the Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020-2025, I am very committed to improving and extending supports to help more people with disabilities to enter employment and stay in the workforce. The work the providers have done in the context of the Ability programme has been innovative and has made a difference in the lives of the young people who have participated. We listened carefully to the Ability representatives last month an…

I thank Deputies for an engaging discussion on the very important issue of fuel poverty. As outlined by my colleague, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, we want to ensure that we provide the types of supports which offer help to the people who need it most. We want to avoid the use of untargeted measures which do not sufficiently prioritise and target those most in need of the relevant supports to ensure that expenditure on such measures provides the maximum benefit to those in specific need. To …

There has been some public discussion about the impact of Covid-19 on the most marginalised and socially excluded in society. This has relevance to my remit in overseeing the Government's roadmap for social inclusion. However, this is a global pandemic so one has to acknowledge the global inequalities that the pandemic has brought to light. In some respects the virus does not discriminate. The rate of virus fatalities is actually highest in some of the richest countries in the world, such as Italy, the USA, Belgium…

I note the Deputy's point in regard to the three-year rule. The Minister and I met 25 CE sponsors during the week and it is an issue that was raised. In essence, the three-year rule is currently suspended because we are extending contracts. Currently, and up until end of March at least, the rule should not be causing a problem. It is important to say that initially the CE schemes are for one year. On the fuel allowance, the increase in the carbon tax has not come into effect and will not come into effect until May …