Willie Penrose (Westmeath, Labour)

Vote for the budget. With due respect, I have referred to eight or nine of the anomalies in the amendments. In fairness, the Minister cannot deal with them today because, as he said, the pot is gone. I have acknowledged that the Minister is trying to deal with a complex area in a far more caring way than did his predecessor. In that context I will withdraw the amendment because I trust the Minister will examine the matter.

I do so with this caveat, FIS is important and if somebody looking after a person in receipt of invalidity pension gets FIS and this deprives him or her of the household benefits package we are dealing with a circular bird. As Deputy Crowe stated, people are encouraged to apply for FIS but it may result in them losing their household benefits package. This pushes people into an either-or situation. We want to ensure that whatever they get helps them and anybody who is an invalid and is not able to work should find the household benefits package a useful adjunct. If I recall correctly, the Minister said the household benefits package for a family is worth about €980 per year, which is about €19 per week. We acknowledge that this is worth something.

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