Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

I support the amendment which lies at the core of our attempts to encourage people back into employment. If people had a genuine choice they would opt for employment. There is a notion that people are happy to live off social welfare but, in reality, the longer one is in poverty the more difficult it is to break out of it.

I agree with what has been said about the family income supplement. We need to ensure that people are more aware of their entitlements. I recently came across a case of a woman who did not know she was entitled to the family income supplement. She had been working for a number of years but did not know how to apply for it. I was informed that if a person does not know they were entitled to the supplement, it is not a valid excuse for claiming back payments. Perhaps the Minister will examine that matter.

Deputy Boyle referred to the issue of tax credits which merits attention. We must examine the problem of poverty to discover whether it is diminishing. I welcome the fact that the Minister recognises the existence of poverty. Many of his predecessors argued that huge improvements had been made, but those working on the ground said that despite the Celtic tiger, the situation was deteriorating. The gap between rich and poor has widened in recent years. There are more millionaires in the country than ever before, but we also have more low earners living on credit.

There are many people working who are also living in poverty. That is the core of another debate that has not been touched on by The Irish Times or anyone else. Many people are working in bad employment conditions. I support this worthwhile amendment. It gets to the heart of the issue, which is that we should be encouraging people back to work. One of the means by which this can be achieved is through income disregard.

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