Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 26 Nov 1996

Vol. 472 No. 1

Written Answers. - Social Welfare System.

Róisín Shortall

Question:

264 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will report on the justification for the dependency principle in the social welfare system; the reason two members of a couple receive lesser payments than two individuals who are, for example, brother and sister or father and son both living in the same dwelling; his views on whether the living costs are the same in all cases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22583/96]

Minister for Social Welfare (Proinsias De Rossa)

The social welfare system, as originally developed, was based on the traditional pattern of the husband being the main breadwinner and the wife being mainly dependent on him for income support. The social and economic realities in Ireland have altered considerably over the past 50 years and the social welfare system has responded to these changes. For example, the automatic presumption of a wife being dependent on her husband was replaced in 1986, with the introduction of the equal treatment provisions which provided for a genuine test of dependency applying equally to both men and women.

Nevertheless, while there have been significant changes in demographic, labour market and family structures over the years, the fact remains that women, and particularly married women, are under-represented in the labour market. Although women account for just over 50 per cent of the population, at present women comprise only 37 per cent of the paid workforce and married women only 18 per cent.

All claimants for social insurance payments, regardless of their marital status, household situation or means, receive the full personal rate of payment once they satisfy the relevant contribution conditions. This is not the position, however, in the case of social assistance payments. While the structure of social assistance payments does not systematically reflect the variety of household situations which may exist, nevertheless the level of assistance payable is frequently affected by the claimant's household situation.

For example, in assessing the means of single persons who are living with their parents for unemployment assistance and supplementary welfare allowance purposes, account is taken of the benefit derived by the claimants by virtue of their residing in that household. There are a number of other provisions which affect the level of social assistance payable. For instance, where both of a married or cohabiting couple claim unemployment assistance or pre-retirement allowance, the rate of assistance payable to both is limited to the "married rate", that is, they each receive half of the personal allowance together with the adult dependant allowance.

The rate of assistance payable in such circumstances reflects the fact that such households achieve certain economies, the most obvious examples being accommodation costs and household expenses. The extent of economies achieved by other household types varies depending on how they organise their affairs.

The concept of dependency has been the subject of a number of recent studies and individualisation of entitlements has been proposed as an alternative. The review group on the treatment of households in the social welfare code looked at a number of alternative systems for providing individual entitlements. For example, every adult irrespective of marital status could be provided with an entitlement to payment in his or her own right, irrespective of the means of the spouse or partner. Alternatively, the means of a spouse or partner could be taken into account in determining the entitlements of one of a married or cohabiting couple. The expert working group on the integration of the tax and social welfare systems also examined this issue. However, they found a number of disadvantages associated with the introduction of a system of individual entitlements and recommended against implementation of such a scheme in present circumstances.

The replacement of the existing dependency arrangements with a system of individual entitlements would be extremely costly and would require fundamental changes to the existing payments structure. Accordingly, it could only be considered in the context of the long-term development of the social welfare system.