Bernard Allen
Question:7 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will give details of the implications of social welfare regulations made since he took office and their impact on decisions made by his immediate predecessor.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Social Welfare Adjustments.
Eamon Gilmore
Question:10 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for Social Welfare if his attention has been drawn to a speech made by a person (details supplied) on 1 May 1993 regarding the social welfare cuts introduced in 1992 commonly known as the dirty dozen; if in the light of the comments made, and, particularly, the warning regarding possible implications for a new Programme for Economic and Social Progress style agreement, he will now reverse these cuts; if, in regard to his speech to Dáil Éireann on 23 March, he will identify the cuts which have been reversed and those which remain in place; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 and 10 together.
I have spoken at length in this House during the budget and on the Social Welfare Bill in relation to the measures introduced last year and the initiatives I have taken to review them.
The following adjustments have been made: the condition for disability benefit requiring at least 13 paid PRSI contributions in a recent contribution year has been revoked for people on long term unemployment assistance and pre-retirement allowance. This was provided for in the Social Welfare (Disability Benefit) Regulations, 1993, S.I. No. 83 of 1993. The condition for dental and optical benefits requiring at least 13 paid PRSI contributions in a recent contribution year has been revoked for people on disability benefit for more than 12 months, invalidity pension, long term unemployment assistance and pre-retirement allowance.
Dental and optical benefits have been restored to pensioners affected by the change in the contribution conditions requiring five years paid contributions. Dental and optical benefits have also been restored to workers earning up to £30,000 per annum and £60,000 per annum if the worker has a dependent spouse. The change relating to dental and optical benefits were made in the Social Welfare (Treatment Benefit) (Amendment) Regulations, 1993, S.I. No. 84 of 1993.
The condition for entitlement to unemployment benefit for part-time workers has been relaxed by reducing from two days to one day the loss of employment which a part-time worker must incur in order to be regarded as having sustained a substantial loss of employment. This was provided for in the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Social Insurance Provisions) Regulations, 1993, SI No. 82 of 1993. The amount of daily earnings disregarded in assessing earnings from casual insurable employment for unemployment assistance purposes has been substantially increased to the daily rate of unemployment assistance plus an extra £15 for each day worked. This means that a married man with two children can now earn up to £34.42 for each day in which he works without affecting his rate of unemployment assistance for the days in which he does not work. This was provided for in the Social Welfare (Unemployment Assistance) Regulations, 1993, SI No. 99 of 1993.
As regards exceptional needs payments under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, I announced last week new arrangements to help people on social welfare incomes who get into difficulty with fuel bills. These new arrangements will come into effect from the beginning of next month and will replace the existing guidance issued to health boards on this matter. The new arrangements will involve the establishment of a joint code of practice which will integrate the help and advice available from the health boards and the fuel providers with a view to ensuring that clients who have problems in meeting bills receive all the assistance that is available. I intend to publish details of the code in an information leaflet jointly with the health boards and the utilities. The leaflet will set out clearly and simply the help which is available from the health boards and the fuel providers to enable consumers to meet their fuel bills and to maintain supply.
The overall effect of the initiatives I have taken as a result of my review has been to alleviate any particular difficulties identified as arising from last year's measures. The measures still in force will continue to be reviewed in the light of their impact on social welfare customers and any further necessary changes will be made.
After all the waffle the Minister has given us, will he be honest enough to admit here that of the 12 cuts introduced by his predecessor there have been marginal changes in only four of them? Would the Minister not agree that circulars sent to the health boards in relation to the supplementary welfare allowance exceptional need payments, despite what the Minister is saying now, despite what he promised in the House during the Social Welfare Bill——
Both lies.
——and his response to Deputy Proinsias De Rossa in which he misled the Dáil——
May I tell the House that the time available to us for dealing with priority questions is very close to exhaustion. In fairness and in equity I want to deal with the final question.
(Interruptions.)
——have had little change in them? If the Minister condensed his replies we might get somewhere.
I am appealing to the Deputies' and Ministers' sense of fair play.
It is important, since the Minister and his Minister of State have succeeded in conning the public and the media, that they should come into this House and be accountable here for misleading statements made on RTE radio on Sunday, 2 May last, when he said the circulars were withdrawn.
I said I would appeal to your sense of fair play.
I would like to refute utterly and absolutely the allegations made by the Deputy. They are entirely out of line, they are wrong and he is going over the top.
There are no guidelines.
The Deputy asked what the regulations were and I have listed each one of them. The Deputy asked about the special needs in dealing with fuel bills. I have done exactly what I said I would do.
The Minister has not done it yet.
The Deputy should withdraw the allegation he made about misleading him or anybody else in the House because I did not and the record will show that.
The Minister did mislead the House.
Let me reply for a change. I said a special committee was examining how best to set out——
Have the circulars been withdrawn — yes or no?
I have to say that if Question No. 8 is not responded to now it cannot be disposed of. If the Minister proceeds it means Question No. 8 cannot be disposed of.
The Deputy has made a wild and false allegation.
It was not wild. Read the record of the House and it is on the record of RTE.
Yes or no?
Let me finish.
The Minister said all this on radio.
I said that as soon as the guidelines were completed and ready the two circulars would be withdrawn.
No, the Minister did not.
That is what I said.
Deputy De Rossa may not intervene at this time.
They still have it.
A Cheann Comhairle——
Deputy De Rossa, I have advised you again and again that on priority questions you may not intervene. No Member may intervene other than the Member——
It is very hard to sit here quietly and listen to this House being misled, day after day, by the Thatcherism rules——
If the Deputy cannot listen to what the Minister has to say he has a remedy. There are many exits from this Chamber.
The Minister is attempting to mislead the House yet again.
I said that when the new guidelines were ready the two previous circulars would be withdrawn. In the statement which I made recently in Cork in relation to this matter I said they would be withdrawn at the end of this month. Maybe that has upset the Deputy.
No, I am delighted.
The Minister said that in April also.
Why does the Deputy not read the newspapers — something he is normally very good at — and the press release which I issued? I can give him a copy afterwards.
Instead of making press releases, make statements in the Dáil.
At least, the Deputy should have the decency to withdraw these ridiculous allegations even if they are for a political purpose.
They are not ridiculous because the Minister lied to RTE.
Ask the community welfare officers.
The time for dealing with priority questions is now exhausted and I am proceeding to other questions.
The biggest obstacle is the Minister.
Please, Deputy Allen, let us have an orderly Question Time.
The Minister is trying to defend the indefensible.
The Minister is playing around with words and is misleading the public.
The Minister said they were all withdrawn on Sunday, 2 May.
Question No. 9 please.