Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

——to ensure joined up thinking and the delivery of projects on time and on budget.

National Development Plan 2007-2013

The next national development plan, which will cover the period 2007 to 2013, will set out a coherent and integrated strategy for investment in economic and social infrastructure. It will be done within a framework of budget sustainability and will be informed by key objectives of enhancing national competitiveness and promoting better balance in regional development. The Department of Finance will shortly commence a major consultation process on the next plan in the coming months.

Public service pay

To support this level of activity we need a professional and well-motivated public service. The numbers employed reflect that many of these services are labour intensive, particularly in areas such as health, education and the security forces. Some 40% of public spending goes in the form of pay. We have an obligation to ensure that value for money is central to how we reward our public officials. The provision for 2006 to fund public service pay and pensions is €16.4 billion, an increase of €1.1 billion or 7%. It makes full provision for the final phase of Sustaining Progress and includes €430 million for improvements in services and extra staff to deliver those services. I do not intend to prejudge the outcome of negotiations on a further public service pay agreement so I am not making any special provisions in the Estimates for public service pay in 2006 other than what is provided for in the current agreement.

Total employment in the public service this year is just over 290,000. We will continue to control and regulate numbers in the public service within agreed ceilings. We are allowing limited increases in staff in some key non-administrative areas particularly in health, education and the Garda to improve the delivery of important front line services to the public. This is the correct strategy to follow.

Helping families and those on low incomes — social welfare

A primary function of Government is to protect and support the weaker sections of our society. The sustained economic growth over recent years has led to a welcome increase in employment and general income levels. However, many people are not in a position to avail fully of the increased employment potential that now exists. At present, 970,000 people are in receipt of a weekly social welfare payment and many of these are on old age or related pensions. A further 490,000 people also benefit from these weekly payments.

The opportunity now exists to make substantial further progress in this area. Last year, I provided for significant increases in social welfare rates and I will build on that progress in this budget. I intend to target the following groups for particular improvement this year: the elderly, in particular those in receipt of a social assistance old age pension; people on the lowest rate of social welfare; people affected by child and family poverty; and carers. At the same time, recognising the value to individuals of being employed, in terms of not only income but also self-worth, the Government wishes to enhance the employment opportunities open to social welfare recipients in general. These themes form the basis for the improvements in the social welfare system I am announcing today, which will cost €1,120 million in a full year.

Old age pensions

The Government has a proud record of improving income support for pensioners. I am increasing the full personal rate of old age and related pensions by €14 per week, an increase of almost 8%.

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