On 28 May, Ireland’s Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton published the new Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2014. In a press release, the Minister’s office said that the Bill would give effect to “a number of important” reforms. Despite this, the draft legislation is being debated at second stage in the Dail this week, only a few days after its publication. The Bill is to reach committee stage next Wednesday, providing a very short window of opportunity for these changes to be discussed.
The Bill covers a significant number of social welfare schemes and amendments to definitions. The Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 is the primary piece of legislation referenced in this new Bill. However, there have been many amendments since 2005 and there is no legislation which incorporates all these changes. This means it could be very difficult for interested parties to analyse the impact of the new Bill in the short time before its debate.
The Bill proposes changes to the habitual residence condition, including the removal of the “two year rule”. Under this now virtually obsolete rule, the Department of Social Protection used to require a person to have been present in Ireland or another part of the EU Common Travel Area for a continuous period of two or more years before they qualify for social welfare payments. EU law expressly prohibits a minimum time period to determine residency. It is not yet clear what the consequences will be of other the new amendments. The changes broadly mean anyone claiming welfare benefits must be able to prove they were resident here not just at the time of application but for the entire period for which payment is claimed.
The Free Legal Advice Centre’s Policy and Advocacy Officer Yvonne O’Sullivan says there has been insufficient time between the Bill’s publication and the Dail debate to allow for civic society and advocacy groups to analyse the draft legislation, undermining the democratic process. She points to successive Ministers' record of scheduling complex legislation to be debated and signed into law within a very short time of publication. For example, the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013 was debated two weeks after its publication on 23 October 2013.
Click here to read a Department of Social Protection press release about the Bill.
Click here to read the draft Bill.
Click here to read the Bill’s Explanatory Note.
Click here to read an Irish Times article about the Bill.
Click here to read a July 2013 FLACsheet about the Habitual Residence Condition.