Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)

I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak about the Social Welfare Law Reform and Pensions Bill 2006, which represents a step in the right direction. While the Bill has a number of positive elements, I do not think it is sufficiently radical. In some cases, it tinkers at the edges rather than tackling the problem head-on. There continues to be a number of anomalies in certain sectors and various groups are still losing out. The Government is in a position to make radical changes to our social welfare system, to put adequate and comprehensive child care supports in place, to deal in an equitable way with this country's tens of thousands of carers and to sort out our pensions system. Although the Minister for Social and Family Affairs is in a position to be generous, he has not been generous in some cases.

I welcome the provision of an early child care supplement and the increase in child benefit rates, but such allocations will meet just a fraction of the cost of providing child care, which is increasing every day. Excellent child care and pre-school facilities are provided in many European countries, especially the Nordic countries, but that is not the case in Ireland, despite the best efforts of many community groups which are trying to provide child care facilities. I appreciate this digression relates to the remit of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, rather than that of the Minister for Social and Family Affairs. Community groups have been struggling for many years to raise funds and draw up plans. They have undertaken needs assessments and demographic profiles in conjunction with county child care committees, planners and officials in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. They have submitted their plans as advised, ensuring all health and safety requirements are met. They have submitted budgets which have been agreed by everyone. In some cases, they have been turned down or been awarded grants which are €100,000, €200,000 or €300,000 less than what they need. I have seen community groups in Inishcrone and other places in my constituency being put in an impossible situation. It makes no sense to leave groups which have jumped through hoops in their attempts to provide accessible and equitable child care services hundreds of thousands of euro short. If such groups were up and running and providing the services which are needed, the early child care supplement would be more valuable. While it is welcome, it will meet just a fraction of what is needed.

I will deal with two further issues in the short time available to me. If ever there was a case for generosity, the Minister needs to be generous to carers now. He could have achieved an A grade in his treatment of carers, but he has achieved a C grade, at best, to date. We all welcome the extension of carer's benefit to two years and the increase to €1,200 in the respite grant. I am not pleased, however, that the means test, or the "mean test", continues to apply because it results in most carers not being looked after at all. I refer to people who are happy to do important work quietly with patience and concern, day after day, saving the State hundreds of millions of euro each year in the process. Such people are not looking for hundreds of millions of euro, but for a reasonable allowance that will allow them to live in some sort of reasonable dignity while they look after those who need care.

I would like to raise an issue that relates to the pensions of carers. There is an absolute need to ensure carers who work the required number of hours, whose contributions records have been interrupted, qualify for some type of carer's credit so they are not penalised when they reach pension age. I will speak about the circumstances in which such problems arise. We should ensure people who take time out to look after those who need care are not penalised. Their contributions records should not mean they have reduced pensions because that would add insult to injury. I spoke earlier about this matter, in respect of which the Minister needs to take action.

I mentioned some of the anomalies in the social welfare system, particularly in the pensions system. I refer to the problems encountered by people who do not have full contributions, for various reasons, and find themselves on reduced pensions. Many women who worked in the public service and paid PRSI when they were young had to give up that work because of the marriage bar that was in place at the time. They did not have a choice — the State forced them to stop working. Many of them went back to work in the 1980s and 1990s and now have reduced pensions, through no fault of their own. Similar problems are faced by people who were forced to emigrate. I refer to people who had no choice but to take the boat and work overseas in difficult circumstances. They were not paying any pension or health care contributions, but instead were sending their savings home. Although the remittances of emigrants paid for the State's entire education budget in the 1960s, when those people come home they are given reduced pensions. We owe such people a debt because the Celtic tiger was built on their shoulders. We could repay that debt if we chose to deal with this issue. I would like to make a short response to Deputy Ring's remarks in this context. I ask him to not to mix up people who are moving from one European country to another, as people from counties Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim and elsewhere did when they went to work abroad. Like many other Irish people, I will attend a demonstration in Washington next week aimed at ensuring that Irish people who went to America can have their affairs regularised. We cannot do that on the one hand, while linking these two issues on the other hand.

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