The House will now hear one minute statements on matters appropriate to the Minister for Social Welfare and to the Minister for Justice. I propose to call on Deputy Jim Higgins Deputy Brian O'Shea and Deputy Ted Nealon to make one-minute statements appropriate to the Minister for Social Welfare in the first instance, to be followed by statements appropriate to the Minister for Justice by Deputy Nora Owen and Deputy Jim Higgins. The Deputies are entitled to one minute in respect of each matter and the Ministers or Ministers of State replying have five minutes between them for that purpose. I call now on Deputy Jim Higgins to make his statement.
Adjournment Debate. - Social Welfare and Justice Matters.
The carer's allowance was a major innovation eagerly awaited, but I am afraid badly discredited to date. It requires major overhauling. It is something that makes common sense but unfortunately the manner in which it has been introduced and handled by the Minister leaves its reputation very badly dented. The principle of keeping someone out of hospital, looking after them at home and being paid for it, is a good and humanitarian principle. However, I understood that there was reciprocation in the EC.
We know there is a large interchange of population between Great Britain and here. I understood that if a UK pensioner came here he or she was entitled to all benefits. At present a UK retirement pensioner can get the free electricity allowance, free travel allowance, free TV allowance and free telephone allowance in certain circumstances. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the Minister in the recent budget extended the scope of the carer's allowance to cover DPMA, invalidity pension holders, the majority of whom are our own, who were born here, went to the UK and brought back pensions here, are not entitled to benefit at a time when they need care must. I urge the Minister to do the decent thing and extend the scope of the scheme to include UK retirement pensioners who are domiciled here.
I am asking the Minister for Social Welfare to extend entitlement under the free travel scheme administered by his Department to those widows under the age of 66 who would qualify on health grounds for invalidity pension or disabled person's maintenance allowance. As the Minister knows, invalidity pension and disabled person's maintenance allowance are two qualifying payments, but for different reasons widows cannot qualify for them. I am aware of widows whose mobility is very badly impaired and they cannot afford public transport to go about their normal business, be it social or domestic, and they are not able to visit married sons and daughters and grandchildren. I put it to the Minister that this is a relatively small group. It would not cost a great deal of money to do this and it would greatly improve the quality of life of these people.
Everyone accepts that there was a drastic fall in farm incomes in 1990. The official figures are around 15 per cent, some figures indicate it was 20 per cent, some indicate 40 per cent and I saw a few well documented cases relating to north Connacht farmers which indicated that the fall was 50 per cent. Whatever the average figure was, it was much greater in the west, because they do not have economies of scale. This year all the signs from Brussels and home are that we will have a repeat of that drop. The Department of Agriculture and Food accept this but, unfortunately, the Department of Social Welfare do not understand the situation, or for some other reason, will not accept this in calculating farmers' incomes for unemployment assistance and for noncontributory old age pension benefits. They are still doing their calculations as if the downturn in incomes had never happened.
Farmers are losing out on their dole and old age pensions because of imaginary incomes based on now historic prices. The result is widespread hardship and poverty in the farming community. All Deputies from the west agree on this. We would ask the Minister to get the message across to his Department and have the calculations done on a current basis.
The 1986 Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act allowed people to apply for Irish citizenship if they could prove that as far back as their great grandparents came from Ireland. The closing date for applications was 31 December 1986, and applications had not only to be lodged, but registered by that date. In early 1987, the Attorney General advised the Department of Justice that a small amendment was required to allow for the huge number of applications which could not be registered before 31 December 1986. As many as 10,000 applications were received in New York alone. The matter is now one of great embarrassment for this country because recently, on a Marian Finucane show, an American Congressman from New York, Mr. Ray McGrath, reminded Ireland of the numerous lobbies to give "immigration" visas to Irish citizens. I would ask the Minister not to continue dealing with this amendment through a general amendment for Irish citizenship but to take it separately, to bring in the one line amendment and give citizenship to these people who have been waiting for four years.
Twenty thousand people died directly from alcohol over the last 20 years, more than 1,000 per-annum. We can add to this the hospitalization, misery, suffering, marriage breakdown, deprivation, teenage pregnancy and abortion along with fragmentation of families, drunken driving offences and resulting deaths. One can visit any public house on a Friday night and find that the vast majority of people in crowded public houses are under 18 years of age. The fines are derisory. The 1988 Intoxicating Liquor Bill makes provision for ID cards. This can work, that has been proved, and it will work here. Where there is a will there is a way. The investment is worthwhile. If it does something to mitigate the scourge on Irish society, which is drinking among young people which leads to alcoholism, I urge the Minister to implement this section of the Bill.
The Minister and the Minister of State have five minutes between them to reply and they may utilise that time as they think appropriate.
The new carer's allowance, which I introduced last November, was a major innovation and has been widely welcomed. It provides a direct payment to people on low incomes who provided full-time care and attention to invalided social welfare pensioners.
In general, the allowance is payable to people who are providing full-time care and attention to social welfare pensioners aged 66 years or over or to recipients of invalidity pension or blind pension regardless of their age.
As announced in this year's budget, the scheme is being extended to cover carers of recipients of disabled person's maintenance allowance and those similar persons who receive a pension from another member state of the EC or from a country with which Ireland has a bilateral social security agreement. As a result of that extension, persons providing full-time care and attention to incapacitated recipients of UK retirement pensions who are over 66 years will be brought within the scope of the scheme.
In addition the personal rate is being increased to £50. I am surprised Deputy Higgins was not aware of this. It is in the speech I made in the House and it is on the record. It is wasting the time of the House to bring up something which is already agreed in the budget and is coming in the Social Welfare Bill.
The Department are still refusing people.
The free travel scheme applies to all permanent residents of the State aged 66 years and over — including widow pensioners — blind persons aged 18 years and over, and persons receiving social welfare-type payments as permanently incapacitated persons. Widow pensioners under 66 are not entitled to free travel. An extension of the free travel scheme to include widow pensioners under 66 on disability grounds would have significant cost implications and could only be considered in a budgetary context. I do not accept that there has been any failure on the part of my Department to re-examine the means of any claimants whose income from farming has fallen. Means from farming for unemployment assistance purposes are assessed under specific provisions of the Social Welfare Acts. I am satisfied that the legislation has the flexibility to deal with changes in farming incomes.
The relevant legislation provides that the yearly value of any advantage accruing to the claimant from the use of property — other than property personally used and enjoyed by the claimant, such as a dwelling — is assessable as means.
The value of the yearly advantage is essentially based on the income from the farm less any expenses actually and necessarily incurred in earning that income. The basis of the calculation is the net income from the farm over the 12 months preceding the date of the investigation, adjusted where necessary, to reflect significant changes in farm prices or any other factors which would impact on farm income. This means that in assessing means, account is taken of the current level of and emerging trends in farm incomes.
Any smallholder in receipt of unemployment assistance who considers that he may now be entitled to a higher payment because of a reduction in his means due to a decline in farm incomes, may apply, in the normal way, to have his means reassessed. Smallholders who consider that they might be eligible for unemployment assistance as a result of a fall in their incomes should also apply to the local offices of the Department.
The relevant legislation and the interpretation of this legislation are kept under review to ensure that it accurately reflects changing circumstances. For example, in July last I removed the value of farm produce consumed by the household from the assessment of means. I also excluded from the means assessment the net income accruing to a household in a Gaeltacht area from providing accommodation for students pursuing Irish language courses.
The Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1986 amended the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956, by providing that, as from its coming into force, citizens of other countries, one of whose grandparents had been born in Ireland, could register as Irish citizens. Prior to the enactment of that Act, the fact of a great-grandparent having been born here also enabled a person to register as an Irish citizen. The Act provided a period of grace, of six months to the end of 1986, enabling those who had not registered as Irish citizens on the basis of the birth in Ireland of one of their great grandparents to do so. Over 4,200 persons were so registered but approximately 4,000 registrations were not completed before the expiry of the period of grace. As the period of grace expired on 31 December 1986 the legal basis allowing the granting of citizenship to those applicants ended on that date. The Deputy's party were in Government at that time and I cannot understand how they did not then extend the period of grace.
The Minister for Justice indicated in his reply to a parliamentary question from Deputy Owen on 27 November last that he is considering a number of changes to the legislation governing Irish citizenship. When the necessary consultations have been concluded we expect to be in a position to make proposals for legislative change to the Government. Any such proposals decided on by the Government will be announced in the normal way.
In reply to Deputy Higgins, section 40 of the 1988 Intoxicating Liquor Act empowers the Minister for Justice to make regulations for the provision of a voluntary national age-card scheme. We have the matter under consideration. However, before going on to provide for such a scheme we want to monitor and evaluate the existing extensive legislative controls dealing with alcohol abuse by young persons. There is already some evidence to show that the wideranging measures introduced by the 1988 Act are beginning to prove effective on their own. I doubt if Deputy Higgins's colleague and neighbour, the national president of the VFI, would agree with his statements here tonight.
Another point that we have to consider is the development of local community-based voluntary identity card schemes. Several such schemes are now operating very successfully. They generally come about as a result of an initiative by local vintners and the Garda, with parents and the local community in general playing their part. Typically, cards are stamped and authenticated by the Garda where the applicants are aged 18 or over. I think that schemes of this nature with a strong community involvement are probably a much better way of tackling the problem rather than the introduction of a national scheme and could usefully be copied elsewhere around the country. I note that this is also the trend in England due to the initiative taken by the drinks industry itself under the auspices of the Portman group.
Finally, the Government have asked the advisory council on health promotion, with whom I was involved when Minister of State at the Department of Health, to prepare a national alcohol policy. The policy will be broadly based to include historical, cultural, economic and legal factors relevant to the use and abuse of alcohol. It will also cover matters such as education, advertising, prevention, diagnosis and treatment strategies. It is relevant to the matter under discussion that the council have been asked particularly to cover the issues of youth and alcohol and the role of parents and family. I think that it would be preferable to await the outcome of the work of the advisory council before considering further the matter of identity cards.
When?
It was not until early 1987 that the Attorney General gave his advice to the Government on the Bill. The Government told me——
The Minister's reply concluded the debate.
The Dáil adjourned at 11.15 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 7 March 1991.