Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister to the House and wish her great success in her portfolio.

It must have been difficult for the Minister, in presenting her first Social Welfare Bill, to have to enter both Houses with her hands up – as described in sections of the media – following the announcement of a disappointing budget. The Minister said this year's social welfare package is a reflection of the Government's priority to protect the living standards of social welfare recipients. The list of increases, as read into the record by Senator Wilson, makes good reading when taken as a global figure. The reality is that a 25 cent or 30 cent increase per week is an insult to many social welfare recipients at the lowest level.

Senator Mansergh said earlier that Father Healy does not acknowledge that progress was made. If that is progress, in Senator Mansergh's terms, what can we expect in the future? Senator Cox said that we must find new ways to improve things. That, in my mind, is an acknowledgement of failure. The electorate have now realised the deceit pushed on them last May. The Government are trying to find new ways to con the electorate but that is not going to work. This budget, in social welfare terms, was unfair to those who needed it most. The famous gap between the rich and the poor has widened substantially once more.