Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The point about statutes is that a statute cannot limit a constitutional right. They can try to give effect to a constitutional right. I used the example of the 18 year old who looks after his or her sister from 2.30 p.m. to 7 p.m. every day because people can go to court when this right is put in there. While no statute would provide for it, the Constitution would say there is a recognition and respect for carers. My concern is that examples like that will happen because people will go to court to see whether this constitutional right exists. Maybe he or she is entitled to the money. Maybe we will see the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, up there. Maybe a grandparent could make a claim to an entitlement to be paid by the State. My concern is not about pushing out constitutional rights but it will affect the social welfare budget in another way. We do not have anything in the Constitution that says the State recognises that people who are unemployed are entitled to receive support from the State.

We do not have that. Other people are in receipt of social welfare payments. Do the witnesses not see a potential problem there? We may be undermining the social welfare budget by creating a constitutional right that looks great but is then left to the courts to interpret. Have the witnesses any concern over the issue I raise or am I perhaps completely uninformed?