Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)

It is difficult enough being in a small party at the best of times but this morning I had a briefing from the Minister of State on the proposed charities Bill and the Committee of Public Accounts sat at the same time. I have been viewing proceedings from elsewhere in the House and I wish to comment on amendment No. 8.

On Second Stage I stated that it was unfortunate that we were dealing with the Bill without hearing firm proposals from the Minister in regard to the combination of child dependant allowance and family income supports. Many of us on this side of the House hope that those proposals will come forward as soon as possible.

With the public information campaign now proceeding on the family income supplement, FIS, has the Minister set himself benchmarks in regard to how the uptake of FIS might increase in the coming year? We are aware that the current uptake may be as low as 30%. When I questioned the Secretary General of the Department on the uptake recently I was surprised to learn that the amount put aside in the Book of Estimates coincides with the amount that was paid out in the preceding years. If we are serious about FIS we must have a ballpark figure of people's entitlements if they choose to take it up fully. I suspect the impact of the Minister's publicity campaign will require him bringing a Supplementary Estimate before the House later in the year. Will he indicate when this will be delivered and how much extra he thinks will be required as a result?

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