Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)

It is interesting to listen to Senators' comments. I do not believe there is enough evidence to suggest that reducing child benefit for third and subsequent children is exposing children and families to poverty because the way the social welfare scheme is set out there are other measures within the system to pick up the slack, such as family income supplement. It goes back to my point in another part of the debate that this is all the more reason we should look at overall household income. I shared a case on Second Stage. In the past week, I had a case of a family with six children who, up to the last budget, received €49,000 in social welfare payments. After the budget they will receive €41,000, a reduction of €7,996, without the husband's income being taken into account. This is a substantial income for the State to provide and is a disincentive to work. What is wonderful about the decision is that the payment was maintained at €140, that all children are deemed equal——