Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

I particularly welcome the fact that this is a consolidation Bill. That is infinitely preferable than attempting to trawl through 20 different Acts to find out about entitlements. Quite obviously much work has gone into the Bill's preparation and I commend those who have worked on it.

The Minister told the House that a record €12.25 billion was spent on social welfare in the current year and said it was the Government's aim to protect the living standards of social welfare recipients. He said that for every €3 of Government spending, €1 is accounted for by social welfare. That is impressive until one examines the detail. For many decades social welfare payments related in particular to unemployment. They were seen as payments for people out of work because there was no employment for them. However, such payments also relate to other categories such as child benefits and invalidity payments, so that their remit is much broader. Pensioners, for example, have paid their contributions over the years in the context of their working lives. In effect, they are getting back what they have paid in. Given the growing cohort of older people, in ten years time the spend of €12.25 billion will probably seem to be quite small. We need to look less at the global spend than what is being spent individually if we are to measure accurately how people are functioning.

Far too much is expected of child benefit. I was a member of the Commission on the Family in the mid-1990s when child benefit was thoroughly debated as a response to the increasing cost of maintaining a child. However, that was prior to the major increases in accommodation costs, for example, which have generated significant extra burdens on a typical family in terms of child care arrangements. Too much is expected from child benefit, which was designed as a policy response towards covering the cost of child care so that parents who stayed at home were not disadvantaged. We have moved on from that. It came across clearly on the doorsteps last March that the issue is not perceived as being properly responded to by this measure alone.

Increases in child benefit have been substituted for increases in the child dependant allowance, which, as Deputy Healy said, has not increased since 1994. That is one of the reasons why families are falling so much further behind, particularly those on social welfare, and why the gap between rich and poor is widening.

The area that features most prominently in any of the statistics on poverty relates to lone parent families and units where there is a number of child dependants. It is the one area which needs particular focus and I hope the Minister will concentrate on it especially in preparing the Estimates for next year's budget. The whole area of child dependence needs to be looked at and indeed the entire spectrum of family supplements.

A targeted response is needed to make a meaningful difference. Poverty is one of the most limiting conditions and something can be done about it. Barnardo's has launched an advocacy campaign, which is very welcome, that focuses on the priorities. It highlights the fact that one in seven children lives in consistent poverty in Ireland — 148,000 children, equivalent to the entire population of Galway. If that figure was isolated in a particular region, it would bring into perspective what needs to be done on a daily basis. Yet when spread across the country, the problem is more diffuse and less obvious as a chronic issue. We appear to have a fixation as regards sorting matters out on a geopolitical basis.

I am almost ashamed to quote the statistic that Ireland has the highest rate of relative child poverty, 23%, in the EU 15. This amounts to 242,000 children, equivalent to counties Galway and Louth. Children in households where parents are unemployed, ill or disabled — where there are three or more children — are particularly at risk, according to Barnardo's statistics. In 1994, one in 20 households in consistent poverty was headed by a lone parent. By 2001, this figure had increased to one in five. We are not making the progress that is required and possible in this area. The wealth created in the economic boom of recent years must be targeted at need.

The Carers Association made an excellent pre-budget submission. The 2002 census of population indicates there are 150,000 family carers, a figure equivalent to the population of Galway and an indication of the magnitude of the problem. Based on the census criteria, a full-time carer is someone providing more than 42 hours of care in the home per week who is, as a consequence, prevented from engaging in full-time employment outside the home. Less than one in six carers receive the carer's allowance of €153.60 per week. On the basis that the weekly cost of care in residential homes ranges from €600 to €1,300, depending on an individual's condition and level of dependency, the Carers Association estimates that its members save the State roughly €1.5 billion per annum.

Fuel poverty carries a hidden cost. For a pensioner living on the State pension, the fuel allowance of €9 does not cover the cost of a bag of coal, particularly given the recent significant increases in fuel prices. By taking shortcuts in this area, we will create problems elsewhere. For example, if pensioners try to be frugal with their income — most of them have no choice in the matter — they will decide not to turn on an electric heater or put on an extra shovel of coal on the fire. If they sit at home in cold conditions, however, they may store up health problems which will require intervention by the health system at a later date, even if that response is not terribly good. It is short-sighted not to properly resource the fuel allowance scheme.

Too often, our focus is on those who make fraudulent welfare claims. While I do not defend this practice, the number of eligible people who do not take up social welfare schemes is a more significant issue. Family income supplement is a case in point and I ask the Minister to examine it to remove impediments which prevent people from applying for it. This is a good scheme, which could make a meaningful difference but is frequently misinterpreted.

A pilot scheme is under way for the new rent assistance programme and some families have been transferred from the community welfare officer administered payment to the scheme. However, full implementation will take another four years, which means some people on the current scheme will not benefit from the new rules on differential rents for up to four years. I meet people every week who want to go to work because they feel they are not using their skills. Most of them are lone parents who are often depressed about their circumstances because they are being prevented from playing a meaningful role by embarking on a career, paying tax and contributing to society. The current rent support system creates a poverty trap which the Minister must address by taking short-term measures to overcome the problem caused by the differential rent payment for those who do not have a local authority home.

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