Department of Social Protection

Now, sometimes that always comes late in the day.

So, for example, the Department of Social Protection is usually amongst the last to be agreed.

Because it's kind of a function of the money that's left on the table after everyone else has signed off on their budgets.

You then decide the welfare increases and so on.

the lowest? How do you decide?

Uh, the, the Department of Social Protection de- um, decides on a household income.

Uh, basically it's the, the, the 50%, uh, with the lowest household income.

These are schemes that are apply, applied regularly wi- within the department.

Also, do you remember those €20, €30 flights that really have transformed the way we travel? But can the economics behind them last? TU Dublin Aviation lecturer and resident of Tullamore, Fahad Massoud, will examine rising airline costs, what it could mean for fares and connectivity, and another huge Irish aviation story, our global dominance in aircraft leasing.

Also, could your next great employee be someone you're simply overlooking? Vivian Graham from the Department of Social Protection will join me to discuss October's work and skills events, opening more doors for job seekers with disabilities and the practical and financial supports available to employers who want to build a more inclusive workforce.

If you want to be part of this evening's conversation.

you can text or WhatsApp me on 083 3010 103 powered by the home of Offaly's top-selling car brand, Landbrothers Toyota on the Arden Road in Tullamore.

You can get all the details there.

Time for a quick break.

But the question is, are you overlooking your next great employee? Throughout October, the Department of Social Protection is running a nationwide programme of work and skills events, bringing job seekers, employers and employment supports together.

The second week has a particular focus on job seekers with disabilities, helping people explore employment and training opportunities, but also encouraging employers to think differently.

there will of course be that well-flagged cut to the carbon tax and home heating oil.

Ministers today will also discuss enhanced supports for those households at risk of energy poverty, including retrofitting grants, a new €600 solar battery grant and further grants for attic and cavity insulation will also be made available for certain households in receipt of payments from the Department of Social Protection.

But that area around energy poverty, energy affordability, that's Taoiseach saying yesterday.

It'll be a key part of next week's announcement.

We haven't got the time to do it.

We'd have to go through the tax code, revenue, Department of Social Protection would just take too long.

It's been three years since then.

We've had cost of living crisis after cost of living crisis, you know, wars ongoing, etc.

There's very little countries in the world that provide that.

And research shows that that is the best way forward for many reasons, for avoiding stigma, for all the reasons that the Department of Social Protection set up the scheme in the first place for reducing poverty.

So that side of it is excellent, but definitely there could be so much more.

We could be bringing in, it's quite a siloed policy because it was specifically in the Department of Social Protection.

It was an anti-poverty measure, but we can see that there is so many other policies that this could hit.

Like you mentioned there, it's not working within our climate policies.

end there's someone that morning or the day before going to do the opposite done that so using that time to talk to kids and to serve to kids and to wash a plate after children so it's you know this model that I'm talking about isn't necessarily going to take more time or you know from anyone it is just using it in a cleverer way so instead of having 14 people or whatever many people pack pack pack pack in the morning you have those people able to go out to school able to have a conversation with the kid able to talk them through the food and why they're serving it and that shows in other countries that the children are going to eat more and another thing that the review didn't include as well which is a real shame is about where the food is coming from yeah so that um socio-economic benefit for ireland for irish growers and wasn't taken into account in the report yesterday which was really a shame because i'd love to know How much Irish veg, like Welsh veg in schools, how much Irish veg is in school menus? And how much Irish chicken is in school menus? You know, European even, you know, I think that's something that is, it's a real remiss, it's a real shame that the report wasn't able to give us some of those answers.

Yeah, as you said, it's very... it's very siloed and I do wonder about the fact of it being in the Department of Social Welfare that it's a particular approach is the approach is about money and about maybe about that element of economic disadvantage and who's benefiting from it there which obviously is correct but it's missing out on a whole other level of things