Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Senator Higgins is dead right when she says that it is not about spending money for the sake of having expenditure lines on a budget. Behind every line is a person, a family, a child who needs support and, in many cases, has no support other than the solidarity and goodness of Irish people. It is not my money, or Senator Higgins's money. It derives from social insurance contributions for benefits, but the vast majority comes from the taxpayers' purse and that is recognition that we live in a society, not just an economy. I have not one ounce of embarrassment when I am sitting in front of the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, or any of his officials, to ensure my Department gets the largest chunk of that €800 million to look after people who cannot look after themselves at vulnerable times in their lives. The Senator should not be worried about me being embarrassed. I am well able for embarrassment. I will do my best over the next couple of weeks to make sure that all of the areas that we talk and care about are addressed.

I will return to the Senator's first question about equality budgeting. The pilot project programme on equality budgeting was initially started with six Departments and it focused primarily on gender and ran for the first time in the Estimates of last year. This is now being rolled out to other Departments this year. My Department is represented on the new equality budgeting technical advisory group, which is chaired by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, and it will include equality budgeting targets in my revised Estimates for this year. Be assured that we will examine the gender concepts in the SWITCH model and we have officially arranged for training with the ESRI for all the relevant staff in that area, including me. We are conscious that the budget will not be regressive and will be gender proofed. I can give the committee that reassurance.

I acknowledge the Senator's representation that children over the age of 12 cost more to rear than children under 12.

I have heard that said and it has not gone over my head.

The Senator is not the first person to mention the jobseeker's transitional payment being extended. As the Senator may be aware, I had a meeting with Single Parents Acting for the Rights of Kids, SPARK, because Louise was part of the Senator's press conference last week. She brought it to my attention in the submission she gave me, as have others. It will form part of the budgetary discussions.

No child who drops out of school is penalised under the child welfare system, although I know people might like to be able to use that. As the Senator knows, a child who drops out of school is crying out for help and, in many cases, the family require the assistance of the State, not to be penalised by €140 a month. What we do with the National Educational Welfare Board, NEWB, and other support services is notice the fact that the child is not going to school and make initial contact. I do not need to tell the Senator how to suck eggs. She knows exactly what we do. I would not be in favour of any model that would penalise the family because their child was having difficulty or stressed and could not go to school for whatever reason. They need support, not stigma.

The Senator brought some anomalies to my attention for people who potentially would like to participate either in community employment or other activation schemes because of the limitations in communities. I was not aware that there were limitations. Given that it is not my Department that is involved, perhaps that is just my ignorance. I apologise if that is the case.