Senator Gerard Craughwell- speech from 7 Dec 2022

Goetheir maithgat, Clásico Eirlik. Minister, in speaking about social welfare, it would be wrong to start without paying due respect to your staff. You have gone through two years COVID and suddenly were confronted with a Ukrainian crisis and your staff have performed exceptionally well. And as for yourself, Minister, you took on two ministries and you kept the ship floating in both justice and social welfare. I want to acknowledge your commitment to the state and the work that you have done through this pretty horrible time. Now, the increase in the old age pension, we talk about an increase of €12, but in actual fact, if you are not on a full old age pension, you do not get the full €12, and it is a matter of huge annoyance to people who write in to me about this. So, we might sort of talk about a pro rata amount with respect to that. Now, you are in politics a long time, Minister, and many of the people in this room are in politics a long time, but it has become the most precarious profession, I would say, in the country. And in 2020, in the middle of a pandemic, a number of our former colleagues lost their seats in this house. Young, dynamic, hardworking people who gave everything of themselves while they were here, but the nature of politics is sometimes you pay a price that you do not deserve to pay. But because of changes in social welfare rules with respect to your lifetime earnings, all of these types of things, the Class K PRSI is detrimental to these people. We had a number of young TDs and senators who left this house in the middle of a pandemic, no entitlement to social welfare, no entitlement to any supports whatsoever, and of course, they had lost their salaries when they lost their seats. I know there's not a huge amount of sympathy out there for members of the Oireachtas, they all think that we have a great job, wonderful conditions, and in fairness, we're well looked after while we're here. But when you see young men and women losing their seats, having given five years of their lives or four years of their lives, and knowing in your heart of hearts that it's not just the loss of the seat, it's not just the loss of the welfare entitlements there and then, it is the long-term impact that that has on their lives and their future pension entitlements. And we've already been through this with county councillors, and I was forced at that time to take that matter to the courts. And the advice at the time was Class K is unconstitutional. Who in their right mind would take out an insurance policy in the certain knowledge that they could never draw down anything from that policy? And that, in fact, is what Class K is. Class K is a tax on public service, in the case of members of the Oireachtas only now. I do appreciate that members of the Judiciary and other unearned income is subjected to Class K, and I do believe there's a different way to deal with that. Unearned income should be taxed, in my view. And just because you're a member of the Judiciary doesn't necessarily mean that you're going out with a gold-plated pension either. You might be there for a very short time, as some have been in the past. So I really think we have to grasp this, Nettel. And I will put down an amendment and let it go in my name. I don't mind, because at the end of the day, unless we are able to look after ourselves and look after our colleagues, particularly those colleagues who lose their seat, and some of them will never return to politics. You know that and I know that. They've been hurt by the system or whatever, and they're gone. And we really have to take, grasp this Nettel of Class K, put it through as an amendment on the bill. Now, I do appreciate you're right up against the wire in needing to get this bill over the line. And I will be as assisting as I can in every way on the bill for you. But I do think, and I think yourself, Minister, a number of your own colleagues will have lost their seat in the last election. And it's simply not good enough, having given four or five years of their lives, not to be able to be looked after by the state. It's a small ask for members of those. There may be a possibility to adjust the Social Welfare Bill in such a way that if you're here for longer than 10 or 15 years or whatever, that you cease to be entitled to benefits from social welfare. There may be a more equitable way of doing it. But Class K was a crude instrument brought in at a time that this country was on its knees. And I think we really have to go back and revisit that. The only other thing I can say about the list of payments that you've provided there, nobody's on social welfare expecting to be extremely comfortable. It is, after all, the basic income to keep a family in body and soul. And I think, in fairness, the government has stepped up to the plate on providing additional income for people, additional grants, additional aid with heating, etc. And you're to be commended for that. It does show that you have a feeling for what's going on out there in society. And we are in a very precarious situation. We do not know where the world is going over the next 12 months or whatever. So I think, in fairness, this is a good piece of legislation on your part. The increases are as reasonable as they can be, given the circumstances we live in. And overall, I will only address the issue of Class K at committee stage. And I thank you for your time and for your assistance. Thank you, Minister.