My aim for 2017 is to improve everyone’s standard of living
POLITICS is about making a difference. That’s why it has been a privilege to serve as Minister for Social Protection for the past seven months, in charge of the largest government department, with the biggest budget.
The department’s programmes and policies affect every person, from the cradle to the grave, and every household.
We made good progress in 2016, with unemployment falling to 7.3%. We got more than 20,000 long-term unemployed into work. And we introduced paternity benefit, and 3,500 fathers have already availed of it.
I was especially pleased to secure a budget package with €300m extra for 2017, a modest, but welcome, €5 per week increase in the State pension, and the first increases since 2009 in weekly payments to people with disabilities, carers, the blind, widows, one-parent families, and jobseekers, among others.
However, my focus is firmly on the new year, and making more changes to ensure that the benefits of economic recovery are felt by every person, household, and region in the country, through reduced unemployment, higher living standards, and enhanced social protection.
In 2017, I intend to reduce unemployment further, down to 5%-6%, and move another 20,000 people from welfare to work. The Department’s focus will remain on activation, and I will publish an ‘Action Plan for Jobless Families’, and zero in on long-term and intergenerational unemployment.
The complex issue of pensions came to the fore last year. In 2017, I will develop, publish, and start implementing an action plan for the reform of pensions. This plan will set out a road map to reform the State pension, rationalise and reform the defined-benefit pension landscape, and pave the way for auto-enrolment into defined-contribution pensions for everyone in a job. Successive governments have put off doing this.
It is high time that we grasped the nettle and got on with it. It will take many years to fully implement, but this Government can set things in train and establish a policy framework that future governments can follow.
We will continue developing the Working Family Payment, which will reduce child poverty and ensure that no family is better off on welfare than in work. This will allow us to develop new proposals in advance of Budget 2018.
I also plan to extend more social insurance cover to the self-employed, including treatment benefit, and to restore dental and optical benefits to all eligible PRSI contributors, in two phases, in March and October. We will also consider extending social insurance to cover new risks and contingencies.
Another priority will be to reform and recalibrate local activation programmes, such as Community Enterprise, Tús, and Gateway, to reflect the significant changes in the economy and in the labour market.
I want these schemes to place a greater focus on social inclusion and on those who find it hardest to secure and hold down a job. And, as signalled in 2016, I intend to launch a new work experience programme to replace JobBridge.
My goal is to expand the school breakfasts programme to children in all Deis schools in 2017, but also to 35,000 children in non-Deis schools, from September. The long-term goal is to make the programme available to all schools that want to take part. Children who go to school with a full stomach do better.
In 2016, my department made €468m worth of savings by combating fraud. The department is rooting out fraud via a range of initiatives, including airport operations, data analysis, and a joint initiative with Revenue.
In 2017, we will develop further reforms, and are planning a public information campaign to raise awareness about social welfare fraud, and how to report it.
Brexit will also be a big issue for my department in 2017.
People often talk about Brexit in terms of the impact on trade, business, and exporters. For us, it is about the impact on people, most notably the 135,000 people who receive some, or all, of their pension from the UK, and 30,000 cross-border workers.
There is also the issue of social insurance and people who have a mixed record of paying PRSI in Ireland and social insurance in the UK.
I will be working hard to make sure that nobody ends up worse off under the new arrangements and that their rights are fully protected. I have already met my British counterpart and will travel to London, in February, to continue contacts.
While no negotiations can begin until Britain triggers Article 50, we have a duty to think ahead and to plan ahead.
I have examined options from other parts of Europe, including the Nordic Welfare Union, which includes countries inside and outside the EU. Ultimately, Ireland will negotiate with the UK as one of 27 and the deal, when it’s done, will be done in Brussels, not in Dublin or in London.
So I will be attending all Council of Ministers meetings that I can, in Brussels and Luxembourg, and will also visit the European Parliament, which must approve any deal.
I will also host a civic dialogue on welfare and pension issues in February to engage and consult with interested parties, both north and south of the border.
I think we have made good progress in the Department of Social Protection. Core operations continue in the provision of essential benefits, and in reducing poverty and disadvantage in urban and rural Ireland. And we maintain a strong focus on activation to assist people back into the workforce.
This is my third ministerial position, and ministers have a particular privilege to drive through reforms and make decisions that otherwise might not have been made, like linking the Luas lines in Dublin, organising the Gathering, bringing in free GP care for young children and senior citizens, or granting full independence to Shannon Airport.
This will be a challenging year, but on the basis of the year gone by, I am confident that we can achieve a good deal more in the Department of SocialProtection.
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