Ireland’s Budget 2022 included an announcement that those suffering from alopecia and cancer could avail of a 500 euros (EUR) grant towards the cost of a hair replacement product subject to meeting certain Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) criteria. Other changes to treatment benefit qualification were also announced with an implementation date of May 2022.

The Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) scheme operated by the Department of Social Protection (DSP) of Ireland provides an income support payment to people who had to remove themselves from work due to restrictions imposed in response to COVID-19. The scheme was designed over a weekend and available within days to support a large portion of the Irish labour force. Within weeks some 600,000 people representing around 25 per cent of the workforce were in receipt of the payment.

The Working Family Payment (WFP) scheme operated by the Department of Social Protection (DSP) of Ireland provides an income support payment to families in work. The scheme supports low-income families, some in part-time employment, to remain in work through the provision of supplementary income, based on family size (the number of dependants).

In early 2020 with the arrival of Covid pandemic and Ireland in lockdown, the DSP Dublin Regional Team had to consider how to innovate and develop new ways of providing services so as to ensure the Department remained relevant and could continue to deliver services for employers and jobseekers. This resulted in a rapid move to providing new digital services online.

In March 2020, the coronavirus pandemic broke out in Israel.

What began as a health crisis soon turned into an economic crisis, which led many workers to go on forced unpaid leave and went to the National Insurance Institute (NII) for assistance. There was a need to find creative solutions within the limits of the law and the data available to the NII, and to find workable and quick solutions that would allow the payment of unemployment benefits to unpaid workers.

The Treatment Benefits scheme operated by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (“The Department”) provides dental, optical and audiology services and medical appliances to qualified people. In late 2017, following suspension for a number of years, the Irish government restored these Treatment Benefits to all eligible citizens and extended them to self-employed contributors for the first time.

The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (“The Department”) is the largest payment organization in Ireland. It also operates the public employment services and directly funds a wide range of employment programmes and citizen advisory services.

This submission outlines the delivery of a Claim, Payment and Entitlement Web Service to Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) from the Department of Social Protection (DSP).

Worldwide, evidence shows that acute common health problems can progress to a state of chronic disability, job loss and dependence on costly long-term illness benefits. In Ireland, this has contributed to a significant increase since 2000 in the number of illness benefit recipients.

In 2011, during a period when unemployment increased by over 300%, delivery of employment and welfare services was fragmented across three organizations.

Unemployed customers dealt separately with each organization. As a result customer service processes were inefficient and employment outcomes for clients were poor. Intreo was the response to this challenge, involving:

It was, therefore, decided that the scheme should be phased out. Existing participants retained their entitlements, but no further applications were taken. Had the scheme been abolished entirely, an additional 11,000 people would have been counted amongst the unemployed.

Research has shown that the prevention of long-term unemployment is important from both economic and social perspectives. Long-term unemployed individuals suffer from skill erosion and encounter difficulty in re-entering employment. In the wider economy, welfare payments and lost revenue mean that long-term unemployment entails substantial financial costs.