Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 December 2015
90. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the full-year cost of providing an in-work benefit to all working families to guarantee an hourly income rate of €11.75 per hour. [44864/15]
View answer91. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the full-year cost of providing an in-work benefit to all individual workers ensuring a minimum hourly income rate of €11.75 per hour. [44865/15]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 90 and 91 together.
The cost implications of an In Work Benefit proposal are very complex to estimate and require significant resources to prepare. A significant effort is also required to test the robustness of any calculations.
In the first instance a significant effort would have be invested in establishing how an in work benefit scheme would operate and how it would go about achieving an objective of ensuring that individual workers and/or families would be guaranteed an hourly income rate of €11.75 per hour.
In order to undertake such an extensive exercise then data from a wide range of different sources including the Department of Social Protection, CSO and Revenue data, would have to be collated and an appropriate model created. The calculations involved in modelling a reform of this nature are complex and would require significant resources while taking considerable time to complete. The Department is therefore not in a position to provide the costing requested.
