Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

It is disappointing that he has not addressed that issue. I am very disappointed with the fuel allowance. Since the rise in fuel prices, the Government has made a windfall gain, which the Minister acknowledged, of about €100 million from VAT and excise increases caused by the rise in petrol, gas and electricity prices. The basic fuel allowance for senior citizens has remained at just €9 per week since 2002. In the same period, domestic electricity prices have increased by44%. Gas prices were recently increased by 25% and home heating oil is approximately 20% more expensive now than it was this time last year. The current fuel allowance of €9 barely covers the cost of half a bag of coal. In Cork city, it costs €16 to deliver a bag of coal to an old age pensioner's house. The Minister increased the fuel allowance from €9 to €14, an increase of €5. A fuel allowance of €14 will pay to have a bag of coal delivered for an old age pensioner in Cork city. The Minister could have doubled the fuel allowance to €18. That would have cost him something like €80 million, which he could have afforded, given the money he has at his disposal.

Reports from the Combat Poverty Agency and other bodies have found that Ireland has one of the worst records in Europe in terms of people being able to heat their homes. A Combat Poverty Agency report published in 2004 suggested that up to 2000 deaths annually in this country could be attributed to fuel poverty. The Government had a clear opportunity to address the issue. The weather this winter has already been more severe than usual and it is unacceptable that elderly people in modern Ireland should be afraid to heat their homes properly in case they get a bill they cannot afford to pay.

For years, social welfare policy has been devoid of imagination or innovation. It is not enough to address the issue of income adequacy. Social welfare policy must also focus on how to offer opportunity to everyone in our society who can avail of it, in particular, opportunity for people on welfare to get back to work, education and training. The darker side of the booming Irish economy is without doubt the number of families existing exclusively on social welfare and locked out of employment, education and training.

I am not sure if the Government is aware of the extent to which a whole new set of poverty and unemployment traps has developed in recent years, which in effect prevents people getting off social welfare and back to work. Currently, a family with two children, on social welfare, receiving housing rent allowance, would probably need an income of €30,000 to €40,000 to make it worth their while to go back to work. In the Dublin area, for a family with two children, rent allowance is now €1,200 monthly. If one goes back to work, one loses that €1,200 almost immediately, which means that one needs to make more than €14,000 to have a job which pays. That means one really needs to earn at least €30,000.

Since the then Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Deputy Coughlan, introduced the "savage 16" welfare cuts a couple of years ago, we have created a new and ever-higher set of poverty traps for people who wish to move from welfare to work. Because the Government has all but abandoned social housing for families on the waiting list, the majority of such families are now catered for by private landlords who get a rent allowance subsidy paid for by community welfare officers. That allowance for a single adult with one child is a maximum of €954, and is €1,200 for a family with two children. The Minister should think of how much one needs to gain in a low-wage economy to meet that.

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