Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

On the latter point, I am aware that the consolidation procedure is very restrictive. It is laid down in Standing Orders and when I was asked to nominate three people, I did not have much scope and chose members of the two larger Opposition parties and one person from the Government side. It is no reflection on other Members. I would have been delighted to include other parties had I had the manoeuvring room to do so.

I will discuss with colleagues whether there is scope to amend Standing Orders in the consolidation area. If the Deputy's party makes a formal submission on the subject, I will ensure that the Chief Whip and others examine it closely. There is no reason to exclude anybody who has something to offer from such a committee.

I thank Deputy Penrose for raising the issue of the deserted wife's benefit anomaly. These policy changes, however, are not permitted in a Consolidation Bill. Deputy Seán Ryan has obviously studied the subject carefully. Two or three Deputies from my party raised this issue at recent parliamentary party meetings.

At the end of August, 10,355 people were claiming deserted wife's benefit. Approximately 28% of those were awarded the payment on or after 31 August 1992. For good reasons at the time, the Social Welfare Act 1992 introduced an earnings limit on entitlements to the deserted wife's benefit. As a special measure no earnings limit operated for persons in receipt of this allowance whose claim was made after the end of August 1992.

We abolished the deserted wife's benefit in 1997 and replaced it with the one-parent family allowance.

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