Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 25 Apr 1995

Vol. 451 No. 8

Written Answers. - Equal Treatment Arrears Payments.

Colm M. Hilliard

Question:

218 Mr. Hilliard asked the Minister for Social Welfare the reason £60 million was included in the 1995 budget for payment of equal treatment arrears but not the further £140 million for the same purpose recently announced by him, thereby bringing the total payment to £200 million. [7398/95]

Colm M. Hilliard

Question:

219 Mr. Hilliard asked the Minister for Social Welfare when he intends to provide the £40 million balance due in payment of equal treatment arrears. [7399/95]

Colm M. Hilliard

Question:

220 Mr. Hilliard asked the Minister for Social Welfare with reference to the £50 million which was combined with a further £10 million and included in the 1995 budget to pay the equal treatment arrears, if this was the first time money was withdrawn from the social insurance fund. [7401/95]

Minister for Social Welfare (Proinsias De Rossa)

It is proposed to take Questions Nos. 218 to 220, inclusive, together.

As announced by the Minister for Finance in his Budget Statement of 8 February, 1995, the provision of £60 million was made as a first step this year towards the cost of equal treatment payments pending consideration by the Government of the oral judgment of the High Court of 3 February 1995 and the subsequent approved judgment of 20 February 1995.

The cost of the arrears payments required in accordance with the Court's decision is estimated at £260 million of which up to £200 million will be paid by the end of 1995. The remaining £60 million will be paid from January 1996 onwards over as short a period as possible.

Equal treatment arrears payments, because of their association with basic social insurance benefits, have in the past been charged against the Social Insurance Fund. Similarly, the estimated £200 million to be paid this year, will also be charged to the Social Insurance Fund.

Section 30 of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1993, provides that the cost of social insurance benefits shall be met out of the Social Insurance Fund. The fund is financed by social insurance contributions made by employers, employees and the self-employed, and by the Exchequer to the extent that contribution income is not adequate to meet expenditure. The fund has always needed an Exchequer contribution. This contribution has now been increased to meet the additional £140 million required this year.