Budget 2022 must be different. We have a once in a generation opportunity, as we work our way out of this pandemic, to restructure our economy. The Deputies in the Regional Group are firmly of the view that this budget cannot just be about closing the gaps that have emerged during the pandemic; it must also implement the strategy and support structures that will ensure that every person in Ireland can grow and be supported in our recovery. First and foremost, we must ensure that we have a tax and welfare system where work always pays. Returning to work must be the most financially beneficial option for individuals and families. This is the most effective way to break the cycle of poverty in families. Every child should have a healthy environment, a home and an education.

While there are many ways to measure poverty, for me, the most basic measure is hunger. No child should go to bed hungry. A child will never reach his or her full potential if that child sits at a school desk hungry. According to the study by the State agency, Safefood, one in ten of our population lives in food poverty. The best way to boost incomes of poor families is by removing cliff-edge barriers to work embedded in our tax and welfare codes, for example, by removing the anomaly where workers who earn in excess of €352 a week face a high marginal PRSI rate of 23.6% on additional income up to €424 or by introducing a sliding scale of welfare payments so that people do not find themselves better off out of work than in work.

We have all been contacted by employers who are finding it difficult to fill positions or where employees are refusing overtime or will only work three days a week. The fact is that both individuals and families are deterred from returning to work or accepting additional hours for fear that they will be penalised by the welfare system and related supports. For example, the income limits for social housing have not increased in a decade, while property prices have doubled over the same period, forcing people to turn down work or face the prospect of homelessness. This has to be turned on its head and our tax and welfare system must actively support people to return to the workforce in any capacity. Work must always be a better option than welfare and the first place that we should start is with a radical overhaul of the working family payment, both with regard to the exclusions and the rates of support, to always make it financially better for families to access employment regardless of their make-up.

I thank the Deputy for the question. I accept that work is always the best option and there is an onus to facilitate and incentivise opportunities for work in the economy. The successful reopening of the economy and sectors of society over the past six months is having a significant impact on the numbers of people at work. For example, the number of people in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment is down to 114,000 this week.

That is down from a peak of 602,000 last year, which is very good progress. Employment opportunities have been created. We need to do more. I take the Deputy's point in respect of the cliff-edge nature of payments; he referenced the PRSI rate for those earning between €18,000 and €22,000 per annum. Those measures were originally introduced to avoid an even sharper cliff edge that was present prior to their introduction. We established the Commission on Taxation and Welfare to deal with the broader tax and welfare systems and the interplay between them. Issues such as that will fall under the remit of the commission. It has been asked to review how best the taxation and welfare systems can support economic activity and income redistribution while promoting employment and prosperity. The commission is where many of these issues will, hopefully, be dealt with, and recommendations will come from it. In the interim, in the context of the budget, the Ministers for Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform and Social Protection will periodically review the existing measures and will look at anomalies or traps that could perhaps discourage or act as a disincentive for people to take up employment or move to full-time employment, for example.

I take the Deputy's point in respect of the income limits for social housing. Those thresholds are low. I have asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to look at them. They are under review. We have large numbers on the social housing list but the idea that people are not able to progress in work or get an increase in salary because that would marginally rule them out of eligibility for a social house needs to be relaxed. We need to take a more holistic approach to that issue. That is my view. There are complications around the implementation of it. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and his Department are looking at the issue that is there.

The Deputy raised the issue of liability around social insurance contributions. He knows why that was brought in in 2016. As I said, both Ministers will keep those thresholds under review in the context of the forthcoming budget. This year's budget for the Department of Social Protection is €25 billion. There are exceptional items in it because of the Covid-19 pandemic but it has been an unprecedented year in respect of the social protection budget.

It is not all about reform. There are many supports to help people transition from welfare but they are of little use if we cannot get that message out. We need a single government interface that shows how starting work or increasing hours can increase income. Building on the Department of Social Protection's benefit of work estimator, we need an individualised income calculator that is much clearer on eligibility for a range of entitlements, which often causes confusion. We must make sure that a work always pays strategy is not focused on encouraging people into low-paid employment but about giving them the skills for today's economy so they have the ability to earn more and progress in their careers.

The welfare website must also provide a user-friendly interface that outlines the supports and options for education and retraining. Work always pays must be about giving people real hope and the opportunity to access education and employment and reversing these unacceptable levels of poverty.

I do not disagree with the Deputy. The pathways to work strategy we launched in July is very heavily weighted towards, and focused on, skills and upskilling. The key to work is more on the skills side than on the cliff edges and anomalies side. We have to do everything we possibly can to provide people with the wherewithal on skills education to enable them to access a wide range of employment opportunities. The apprenticeship programmes, including, for example, the national action plan on apprenticeships, is yielding results. There are incentives in that for employers. We want to get to 10,000 new apprenticeship registrations per year by 2025. We are on target to achieve that. The Department of Social Protection, SOLAS, working with the education and training boards, ETBs, and the further education sector, are the key nexus in terms of the skills, work and return to education agendas.

We need to provide more flexible learning models and modules for people to access with a view to gaining employment. That is the key, in my view, to enabling people to get work that is sustainable in the future and allows progression.

That concludes Leaders' Questions. I thank the Members for their co-operation.