Ms Michelle Murphy:

I have a couple of points. Going back to the tax piece, we have separated out windfall gains. That allows you to plan for things such as the changes to the age dependency ratio. At the moment, the proportion of corporate tax, income tax, PRSI and VAT of the total tax take is pretty much all of it.

That is a difficult position to be in. Over time, as we age, the revenue that will be generated by at least three of those four pieces will fall. We need to plan for more sustainable revenue that will give the Government that choice. This then leads into benchmarking. In the previous Dáil there was a committee that looked at this. It is really important to index welfare rates against wages to eliminate poverty traps and work disincentives. This would ensure that we would not be in the situation we are in now, where the real value of the income of people on a fixed income has fallen substantially. That is why the gap is now €25. That also allows for planning for the revenue that needs to be generated and how it can be done. Projections can be made on what that is going to be when public pay discussions are being had and the Government will already know the plan in terms of indexation. We are aware that the Minister has a report on indexation of adult welfare rates on his desk, so it would be really welcome to see that published.

One of the key things we have been pressing for - we will continue to do so between now and budget day - is a commitment to the principle of benchmarking in this budget. If the Government is going to deliver on its commitment in the programme for Government to a sustainable and fair social protection system and progressive budgets, the bedrock of that is a commitment to the principle of benchmarking and indexation of welfare rates. Once that is done, the Government can make progress towards meeting the targets set out in the national action plan for social inclusion. The Taoiseach has mentioned child poverty many times. Addressing these kinds of key issues requires indexation to be embedded in the system.