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Gnáthamharc

Social Welfare Benefits.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 October 2004

Wednesday, 6 October 2004

Ceisteanna (172, 173, 174, 175, 176)

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

290 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he will improve family income supplement in the coming year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23526/04]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Family income supplement, FIS, is designed to provide cash support for employees on low earnings with families and thereby preserve the incentive to remain in employment in circumstances where the employee might only be marginally better off than if he or she were claiming other social welfare payments.

The range of improvements to the family income supplement scheme instituted in recent years, including the assessment of FIS on the basis of net rather than gross income and the progressive increases in the income limits, have made it easier for lower income households to qualify under the scheme.

Budget 2004 provided for further increases in the FIS income limits with effect from January 2004. These increases raised the weekly income limits by €28 at each point, adding an extra €16.80 to the payments of most existing FIS recipients.

The minimum FIS weekly payment was also increased by €7, from €13 to €20. The average weekly payment now stands at €76.83 per week, with a total of 14,040 families receiving a supplement under the scheme. The question of further improvements to the income thresholds is a matter for consideration in a budgetary context, having regard to available resources and Government commitments.

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

291 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of rent allowance refusals arising from budgetary cuts in the year to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23527/04]

Amharc ar fhreagra

It is not possible to quantify the number of applications for rent supplement which have been refused on account of the new measures. However, 27,229 applications for rent supplement were awarded since the end of January when the new measures came into effect. This figure includes first time applicants as well as people who move to new accommodation.

The impact of the measures is being closely monitored. In addition to ongoing contacts between my Department and the health boards, a working group was established under the Sustaining Progress agreement, to facilitate engagement with the social partners in relation to monitoring the impact of the changes to the scheme. The working group, which was chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach, included representatives from ICTU and the community and voluntary pillar as well as my Department and the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

A study of 498 randomly selected rent supplement applications which were refused since the measures came into effect in January 2004 found that only 11% of the refusals were because of the new measures and many of these cases would have been refused in any event.

The group concluded that, based on the examination of the sample cases and discussions with community welfare officers, the new measures were not having any significant, adverse impacts having regard to the design of the measures, including the operation of the appropriate levels of discretion by the community welfare officers.

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

292 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he has satisfied himself that claims for various payments involving national and overseas contributions are processed as expeditiously as possible with particular reference to countries with which Ireland has bilateral agreements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23528/04]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Bilateral social security agreements are in place with seven countries, namely, Austria, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the USA and Switzerland. A bilateral understanding also exists with Quebec since 1994. By far the largest number of cases involving EU and bilateral pro rata pension entitlement are those with UK insurance. For all schemes, the time taken to process claims that fall to be examined under EU and bilateral agreements is longer than that for standard Irish entitlements reflecting the added complexity that arises in determining entitlements under these agreements. While every effort is made to minimise processing times, the overriding objective in dealing with these claims is to ensure that people receive their full entitlements.

At the present time, the EU section of my Department dealing with retirement and old age contributory pensions, which make up the bulk of EU and bilateral pensions, has a backlog of cases which is resulting in delays in processing these claims. The position is being kept under constant review and steps to further improve the situation will be taken as circumstances and other demands permit.

I would like to assure the Deputy that delays in processing applications will not result in any losses to pensioners and those who qualify for payment will have their claims backdated fully in accordance with the normal regulations for backdating pension claims.

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

293 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he will consider improvements to the free schemes with particular reference to extending the payment to younger widows; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23529/04]

Amharc ar fhreagra

The household benefits package of schemes, which comprises the electricity, gas allowances, telephone allowance and television licence schemes, is generally available to people living permanently in the State, aged 66 years or over, who are in receipt of a social welfare type payment or who fulfil a means test.

The package is also available to carers and people with disabilities under the age of 66 who are in receipt of certain welfare type payments such as invalidity pension and disability allowance. People aged over 70 years of age can qualify regardless of their income or household composition. Widows and widowers aged from 60 to 65 whose late spouses had been in receipt of the household benefit package retain that entitlement to ensure that households do not suffer a loss of entitlements following the death of a spouse.

A range of proposals has been made to extend the free schemes to other groups. These are kept under review in the context of the objectives of the scheme and budgetary resources.

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

294 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his plans to improve child benefit payments in the coming year with particular reference to the need to recognise cost of living requirements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23530/04]

Amharc ar fhreagra

The policy direction followed by successive Governments has been to concentrate resources for child income support on the child benefit scheme. Child benefit is neutral vis-à-vis the employment status of parents and therefore does not contribute to unemployment or poverty traps.

Over the period since 1997, monthly rate of child benefit has increased by between €93.51, at the lower rate of payment, and €115.78, at the higher rate. These are very substantial increases of 246% and 234% respectively, compared with inflation of 26.9% over the period.

In budget 2001, the Minister for Finance announced a multi-annual programme of increases in child benefit to the value of €1.27 billion over three years. This was subsequently extended to five years, to be completed in budget 2005. Provision for this will be a matter for consideration in a budgetary context.

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