Before I begin, I put on record my sympathies to the family of the late Seamus Carroll. This is a very sad day for our Leinster House family. Seamus was one of our best ushers, always welcoming and helpful, and he always had great pride in this place. I send my sympathies to his family this evening, including his wife, children and grandchildren, and to his Leinster House family as well. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal. I welcome the opportunity to address the House this evening on the school meals programme and,…

Gabhaim buíochas le gach Seanadóir as an díospóireacht úsáideach seo agus a dtuairimí ar scéim na mbéilí scoile. I think there seems to be broad agreement across the House about the significant support to children and to families the hot school meals scheme is. It addresses child poverty and it addresses nutrition. The debate reflects a shared commitment across the House to ensuring that every child has access to nutritious food during the school day and that no child who is disadvantaged because of hunger or food …

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as an gceist seo. As she knows, we in the Department are committed to ensuring that decisions on social welfare applications are of consistently high quality and in accordance with legislative provisions and the general principles of fair procedures and natural justice. Proportionally, the number of appeals received equates to about 1% of all decisions that are made by the Department. In 2024, the Department reported 3.4 million decisions and the appeals office reviewed 40,684 appea…

I assure the Deputy that we do not want it to be that way. Way back in the spring of last year, our first Question Time focused on the domiciliary care allowance. I thank the Deputy for her interest. We have worked hard to try to make it as easy as possible. We introduced online applications. We are introducing an online appeals office, which gives people time in their own space to do that. We are constantly working to make it as easy as possible. The applications process is now online. Since it went online, just o…

I would not say that 60% of decisions are overturned. That figure means that extra information was supplied during the appeal or review. That information might not have been available originally and would have changed the outcome. I will certainly give an update. We will try to give a regular update to the committee. It would be of use to me, too, so we can look to see where there are pressure points. I thank the chief appeals officer and her staff. They have put significant work and investment into dealing with th…

I thank the Deputy for his question. As he knows, reducing poverty and supporting families begins with ensuring that people are aware of the assistance available to them. The working family payment is a weekly, tax-free payment for employees on low earnings who have children. Evidence shows that it is an effective means of targeting support towards vulnerable working families and reducing their risk of poverty. This Government has therefore increased the working family payment income thresholds in successive budget…

The 50% figure is based on a 2023 paper by the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI. Since then, as I said, we have increased the number of families by 20% and that continues to increase. The working family payment, because it is connected to earnings, is complicated and complex. That earning profile can change depending on work patterns so it is not a direct correlation in terms of it. Certainly, however, I will ask my officials to pursue if there will be information available through working with Revenue.…

I assure the Deputy that we are very focused on child poverty. I am not just waiting; we are doing a lot of consultation on what a second tier of child payment might look like. One of the models that is most quoted would result in potentially thousands of families getting lower income on that model, so it is important that we review all the options. We moved last year in budget 2026 to increase the child support payment by €16 and €8. That was a record increase. We are negotiating with the Department of public expe…

I thank the Deputy. I welcome the publication of the ESRI report and the focus it puts on child poverty. The focus is very much aligned with mine and the Government's, including my boss, which includes the reduction in child poverty as one of his top priorities. Our determination to deliver this priority has been reflected in a number of major measures, which I have just discussed with Deputy Hayes but I will reiterate them for the House. We have significant increases in the targeted payments, namely, the working f…

We also look at the measurement of consistent poverty. That is taken from the Central Statistics Office's, CSO’s, indicator of consistent poverty. Our child poverty target is based on the CSO figures. The CSO's Survey on Income and Living Conditions, SILC, 2025 showed a decrease in consistent poverty from 8.5% to 7.8%. It also showed an increase in children experiencing enforced deprivation from 21.2% in 2024 to 19.6% in 2025. The social protection measures in budget 2025 and budget 2026 are not captured in those f…

I can assure the Deputy that we are not just talking. I reiterate the changes in last year's budget in the context of the child support payment, which included a record increase, particularly for over-12s, the full expansion of the hot schools meals programme and the expansion of the fuel allowance to working family payment recipients, with 50,000 extra families entitled to the fuel allowance. They will all make a difference on those figures. Yes, the ESRI is respected. I listen to it and I value its opinion but wh…

I thank Deputy Butterly for her question. As the Deputy knows, the State contributory pension is financed through the Social Insurance Fund, with entitlement based on a person’s social insurance record. To qualify, a person must generally have at least 520 paid contributions, which is equivalent to ten years of contributions. This requirement maintains the contributory nature of the scheme. It ensures a sufficient connection with the social insurance system. The system makes significant provisions for gaps in a per…

The Social Welfare Act 1997 legislated for changes in the minimum number of paid contributions. The number increased to 520 in April 2012. The homemakers scheme allowed time spent caring for children under 12 since 1994 to be disregarded in the divisor of the yearly average method of calculation. Home caring periods were introduced for those who reached State pension age after September 2012. They can be awarded from any time, including pre-1994. Each of the pension caring supports is specific to the method of calc…

I will engage with the Deputy because that is also the cohort of women that was forced to give up work when they got married, by law. My own mother was one of those. We will certainly engage with the Deputy but it is important that we have that concept of fairness across the system. We also have to keep a very firm eye on sustainability, as we are all getting older. The Deputy is right in regard to those people who made caring their priority and had no other choice. We will engage with her in that space.

I thank the Deputy for his ongoing interest in that. The domiciliary care allowance, DCA, is payable to a parent or guardian in respect of a child under 16 who has a severe disability and requires continuous care and attention. There are currently 65,950 families receiving this allowance in respect of approximately 75,500 children at an investment of almost €359 million in 2026. DCA stops being paid when a child turns 16. That aligns with the age disability allowance becomes available. If the young person has a dis…

I am happy to engage with the Deputy on the survey and the feedback on it. DCA is not means-tested or taxable. We discussed with Deputy O'Reilly earlier that we have done a lot of work to try to reduce the burden of the application process and the appeal waiting times. The number of families in receipt of DCA has increased by 41% in the last five years and more than doubled in the last ten. The number of children for whom a DCA is paid has increased by an even further amount. I will certainly engage with the Deputy…

Let us do that and let us bring this to a head. It will not be in advance of this budget but let us bring it to a head over the course of the next number of months and try to get an understanding on some sort of agreed way forward. Previous Ministers tried to change this and they had to stop. We will certainly look at the Deputy's survey, engage with the committee and get a number of different perspectives on that. Ultimately, it is those children and their parents we need to keep our focus on so we do not have tha…

I thank the Deputy. The Government recognises the invaluable contribution made by carers and we have prioritised improvements in supports for carers in recent budgets. We have provided over €2.2 billion for caring income supports in 2026. That included a €10 increase in the maximum personal rate of carer's allowance and carer's benefit to €270 and €271, respectively, for carers under 66. For carers aged 66 and over the maximum weekly rate increased to €308. For carers with children the weekly rates of the child sup…

I agree with the Deputy regarding the focus we need to put on carers. We also need to mind existing carers as well. We will see through our commitment regarding abolishing the means test over the lifetime of the Government but I am also focused on existing carers. That is why over the past number of years, we have continued to increase the weekly rate of carer's allowance, which is now at €270. In January 2022, it was €224. We have expanded eligibility for the carer's support grant and are consistently engaging wit…

I assure the Deputy we have very strong and ambitious commitments relating to carers in the programme for Government and I will see them through. I also want to ensure that we focus on existing carers but also on young carers. The young carers who attended the carers forum made a huge impression on me in terms of their daily lives, what they are doing for their loved ones while continuing education and work and the pressures of it places on them. I will work with other colleagues in government in terms of specific …