Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)

Will the Minister for Social and Family Affairs be present for this debate or will one of the Ministers in attendance be present? I will continue in any case.

The second social welfare Bill after any budget is traditionally less significant in terms of its cost to the State. Its provisions in any given year incur a cost of some €260 million. Given that the budget of the Department of Social and Family Affairs is now €14.5 billion, the Government could argue that we already dealt with a large proportion of the social welfare budget in the Social Welfare (Amendment) Act 2006. The Bill under discussion affords us an opportunity to examine the principles that underlie social welfare policy and to challenge the Government on the general direction thereof since the last election. As we are now entering the end of an election cycle, this is as good an opportunity as any to challenge the Government's credentials as a caring and giving Government.

There is no doubt that social welfare provision over recent years has increased enormously but it must be asked whether the opportunity has been taken to institute the reforms required in many areas. As spokesperson for my party, I argue it has not, which view is shared outside the House. The opportunity was not taken because of a timid approach to making the changes required to bring the social welfare system into the 21st century. Unfortunately we still have too many vestiges of the Victorian notion of "the poor" in the Irish social welfare system. Acts such as the Social Welfare (Amendment) Act 2006 and the consolidation legislation passed over recent years presented an opportunity to put our social welfare policy ahead of that of many more enlightened European countries. The Scandinavian model, in particular, is one to follow.

This Bill is an attempt to remove or at least ameliorate some of the anomalies in our social welfare system, which is to be welcomed. The section in Part 2 dealing with the technical amendment to the definition of "volunteer development worker" is welcomed by my party and others throughout the House. Irish citizens who did foreign aid work found themselves unable to claim employment and PRSI entitlements as a consequence of their having been abroad. This anomaly could and should have been addressed before now but the proposal to do so now is to be welcomed.

A large proportion of the costs incurred through this Bill arise from the child benefit increase, which, given the scale of Government munificence in every area, particularly in terms of tax reliefs, seems a bit low. The €10 increase this year allows the Government to meet a promise it made on child benefit payments two years ago. Given the inflation since then, a case could be made that the increase is lower than what it should be. The rate is now over 5% and increasing. Whoever has the privilege of delivering the next budget will need to reconsider this matter.

The Government could argue that the introduction of the child care payment has provided an additional source of income for many but the real debate on the child-centred payments should focus on their universality. The Government has already chosen to tackle one element of it in that all children who are born in this country are no longer entitled to receive such a payment. This is a negative decision. It will probably carry no electoral consequences but it was morally wrong.

We see the consequences of such decisions in international surveys. Ireland ranked very poorly in a recent UNICEF study of children in the developed world. Twenty-one of the richest countries in the world were ranked in terms of children's standards of living in terms, affluence and access to services, and it is no source of pride that Ireland came 19th, followed only by the United Kingdom and the United States. It is sad that Ireland regards the social services template of the United Kingdom and the United States as one to adopt. If we really aspire to being a caring nation, we need to decouple ourselves from this form of benchmarking as quickly as possible. I hope that the Government presiding over the 30th Dáil will follow a very different line.

The measures the Bill introduces regarding illness, maternity, adoptive and jobseeker's benefits are small but they are welcome in their own right. More significant changes are made in terms of the qualification of adults for certain schemes, including the qualified adult direct payment. This is where the debate needs to be headed in terms of future social welfare provision. That Ireland is the most means-tested nation in Europe and certainly in the OECD region in terms of social welfare payments warrants change. That so many are defined as "dependent adults" within our social welfare system implies that the system is crying out for reform.

Citizens of this State should be entitled to a guaranteed income because of their being citizens and the contributions they have made throughout their lives. This is not the case for so many citizens, particularly women who have chosen to work within the home and who have not been formally employed throughout their working lives. These women have made an important contribution to society and economy but this is still not recognised in our social welfare code. Until we start tackling such issues, the pensions proposals in the Bill, made by political parties that seem to make up provisions as they go along, will not even be close to those required.

Let me address the old age pension peripherally. It is more a matter for the Social Welfare (Amendment) Bill considered immediately after the budget because it is mainly a question of qualified dependants. The Irish State pension is 33% of the average income while the EU average is 60% of the average income and there is thus a great discrepancy between the two. The magic numbers mentioned by certain political parties in recent weeks, bringing the pension from what had been lower than £100 in 2002 to over €200 this year, and the promise of those parties to increase it to €300 if afforded another term in Government, do not secure the income maintenance levels that are needed. If we are to come close to achieving the European average pension in terms of our gross national product, we should be increasing the State pensions by at least €25 per year for the next 15 years. The Pensions Board estimates that State pensions need to be increased to 40% of gross average industrial earnings, while Age Concern seeks to have the level set at 50% by 2016, only nine years away, yet despite all the boasts of this Government, the current level is only 33% of average income.

The real nature of this Bill has little relevance to financial contributions but a number of areas deserve particular consideration. With regard to carer's allowance, the principle of a second payment is being relaxed, so if someone is in receipt of a social welfare payment, the Department is prepared to allow a half payment of the allowance in recognition of the special circumstances which carers can face. However, this relaxation of what was a cardinal rule in the social welfare code will only be applied after a means test, even though the Irish social welfare system already has a higher prevalence of means testing any other European country. Many of the people concerned are receiving maximum social welfare payments that when added to the carers allowance would still not come within means testing criteria. Someone has decided that means tests must be applied across the board but what level of administrative waste is incurred from a rule of this nature? If someone is in receipt of a State payment to which a half level can be added, there is no likelihood that a means test will be failed. The only use for a means test would be in circumstances where a third payment may be involved because of an occupational pension, so I would like this provision to be relaxed.

With regard to the supplementary welfare allowance, I adamantly oppose the decision to transfer community welfare officers directly to the Department and I will use every opportunity available to me on Committee and Report Stages to amend this flawed provision.

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