Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)

Senator Mooney spoke about a philosophy. There is a philosophy here and a value judgment has been made. When higher rates were brought in for the third, fourth and subsequent children, a value judgment was made at the time that we value families who have more children. We recognised that they have extra costs that other families do not have. We also decided that it is a good idea that we have families to pay the pensions in future years, as Senator van Turnhout stated. This is an important factor.

A value judgment has been made by this Government that we will cut the basic social welfare rate for large families. That is what has happened. There has been a cut in the basic rate. This claim that the Government protected basic rates is not true. A family with one single child and three triplets is down €31 per week as a result of these changes. I know three such families in my own area.