Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 4 Dec 2002

Vol. 558 No. 5

Written Answers. - Social Welfare Code.

Trevor Sargent

Ceist:

96 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the changes which would be required in her Department to make the transition to the guaranteed basic income method of income redistribution as outlined in the Government Green Paper on GBI. [24753/02]

Minister for Social and Family Affairs (Mary Coughlan)

The recently published Green Paper on basic income sets out the main features of a possible basic income system, the advantages and disadvantages of the approach, an indication of the size of the tax rate that would be required to fund the system and sets out a number of key issues which would need to be considered were such a system to be seriously considered. The purpose of the Green Paper is to bring the issues to the attention of the wider community and to encourage debate.

The Green Paper did not specifically set out to identify the administrative measures required to implement a basic income system. Neither did the independent research carried out under the Partnership 2000 agreement, on which the Green Paper draws, seek to identify the specific administrative implications of such a system. The steering group which oversaw this research emphasised that the P2000 commitment did not refer to a specific detailed model of basic income for implementation, but rather the implications of a basic income approach.

Nonetheless, it is clear that a basic income system would have major implications for a number of Government bodies and in particular the Revenue Commissioners and my Department. Were it to be considered as a viable option these implications would have to be the subject of detailed investigation and analysis covering the following implications of the scheme: the abolition of current payment systems which are based on social contingencies such as old age and unemployment; the abolition of the system of social insurance records and their replacement with an age-specific population register on which payments would be based; the establishment of a universal payment for all members of the population differentiated by age; the introduction of a social solidarity fund to respond to cases where the basic income as proposed would unacceptably reduce disposable incomes – essentially, this would mean the introduction or reintroduction of a number of targeted means tested schemes with associated administrative consequences; and if it were decided to make the basic income payment in the form of a tax credit for people at work, and a direct payment to the rest of the population, complex administrative measures would have to be put in place to ensure smooth transition as people moved from employment to unemployment, and to avoid any duplicate payments. Such an analysis would require considerable commitment of resources and given current priorities, it would be premature at this stage to undertake it.