Welfare ‘tinkering’ is not enough, Minister
Creighton says Burton needs to introduce radical reform to help jobless get out of the benef its trap
EXILED Fine Gael TD Lucinda Creighton has hit out at Joan Burton for ‘tinkering around the edges’ of social welfare reform and pledged that her Reform Alliance would come up with radical policies to get people back to work.
In an interview with the Irish Mail on Sunday, the former European Affairs minister said that the grouping of ex-Fine Gael TDs and senators would be boosting their profile after Christmas.
‘I think in the new year we’ll be stepping up our political engagement, we hope to start working on policy papers, and things like that,’ she said. ‘In the new year it will be
‘Crisis offers a great opportunity for reform’
more about setting out our goals and coherent, well-thought-out practical solutions to some of the problems facing the Irish people.’
Along with tackling unemployment and the property market, welfare reform will be one of the Reform Alliance’s main issues.
She said: ‘The welfare state as it currently exists is a welfare trap – once you get into it, it’s very difficult to get out of it. There is no springboard, it should be progressive. And that’s the sort of agenda we will be looking at.’
Ms Creighton added: ‘Joan Burton has, in fairness to her, tackled things like welfare fraud but that’s not enough. So no disrespect to her, it’s just tinkering around the edges.
‘I’ve always felt that the crisis created a great opportunity to radically reform the delivery of public service including welfare protection, but also housing, deliv-
goan Burton ery of services in education and other things. But really it hasn’t happened. ’
In a statement, the Department of Social Protection rejected Ms Creighton’s criticism. It said that the majority of people on the Live Register were either single or had a spouse or partner who was work- ing, which meant the maximum payment they were entitled to was €188 a week, with ‘no additional welfare benefits’.
It added: ‘In addition, for families on welfare, Family Income Supplement (FIS) is available to help families continue in work and build towards financial independ-
Lucinda Creighton ence. In 2014, the Department will spend over €280m on FIS, up from €224m last year. At present, more than 40,000 working families benefit from the scheme.’
The department acknowledged that a ‘small number of households’ did find it difficult to move off the Live Register as they received Rent Supplement on top of Jobseeker’s Allowance or Benefit.
‘This is why the department is working with the Department of the Environment to introduce a Housing Assistance Payment to replace Rent Supplement. It will subsidise rent for people on welfare and in low-income employment so that they will not lose assistance when they move from welfare to work.’
It said that an advisory group on tax and social welfare was examining ways in which the tax and welfare systems could be altered to incentivise the unemployed to return to work.
The department launched an online calculator last week so people can work out their takehome pay if they take up a job.
The Government said that only 3% to 4% of people would be financially better off on benefits than working.
But former ESRI economist and University of Sussex professor Richard Tol dismissed this claim.
The academic said: ‘There is a substantial cost to working and as long as you don’t include that, these calculations are completely wrong. It makes the same mistake that the Department of Social Protection have been making for a while. It compares your salary minus your taxes to what you get in benefits. But what they’re forgetting, and what they keep forgetting, is that there is a big cost of going to work.’
Prof. Tol believes that once this is taken into account, along with childcare, almost 50% would be better off on benefits.
The academic made headlines in Ireland last year when he published a paper claiming 44% of working families with children would be better off on the dole.