Johnny Brady (Meath, Fianna Fail)

First, I welcome this Bill. It is a key part of the 2007 budget package, which, according to the ESRI, boosted overall household income by approximately €2.6 billion per year. The ESRI has indicated this was one of the most progressive budget packages in the past decade and a half. Poorer families gained substantially more in percentage terms than those at the middle and top of the income distribution. On average, the poorest one fifth of families gained close to 5% more from budget 2007 than they would have done from a neutral budget. In contrast, the gain for the top one fifth of families was 1%. While the cut in the top tax rate attracted attention, the sharp increases in welfare payment rates have given a greater boost to the incomes of poorer households.

This year's budget will see a rise of almost 5% in the incomes of the poorest one fifth of families. This rise has only been exceeded by budget 2006, when the large early child care subsidy gave rise to a particularly strong percentage increase in the incomes of low earners. When the incomes of low-income earners are growing faster than their high-income counterparts, the share of income going to low-income groups is rising and their incomes are rising in respect of average income.

This Social Welfare Bill will begin to put into effect the largest ever welfare budget package of €1.4 billion. This means the Government will spend almost €15 billion on social welfare in 2007. This is welcome expenditure that will make a great difference to many people's lives. The generous provisions include an increase of €20 for more than 565,000 recipients of lower welfare rates. It also delivers on the Government's commitment to bring State pensions to €200 per week, with the contributory pension increasing to more than €209 while an increase of €18 raises the non-contributory pension to €200. In total, more than 400,000 pensioners will benefit from the increases.

Overall, these substantial increases, which represent rises of up to three times the expected rate of inflation, will directly benefit some 1 million people, including pensioners, low income and welfare families, carers and those with disabilities. When their dependants are included, a total of more than 1.5 million men, women and children will benefit.

I also want to congratulate the Minister on many features of the welfare package, which include a number of significant fundamental reforms of social policy shaped and targeted directly at tackling remaining child poverty numbers——

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