Niall Blaney (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to address the Dáil on this Bill. I compliment the Minister who has surely made his mark in this Department. It was said four and a half years ago that he would not want to be a Minister in this Department. The measures introduced have provided great relief to many social welfare recipients. These people include those who were taken out of the poverty trap, lone parents, pensioners and carers. Everybody received very generous increases. Social welfare payments, at a little over €15 billion, equate to one quarter of total Government spending. The Minister deserves real credit in that regard.

In dealing with child poverty, the Minister has lifted 100,000 children out of the poverty trap with the introduction of new social welfare payments and increases. He does not intend leaving it there because he recognises that childhood deprivation can leave lasting marks on children and on society. The €2.15 billion expenditure on child benefit in 2007 speaks volumes about how this Government regards our children. It is well established that child poverty is prevalent among those in one-parent families, who now make up a large portion of society. I welcome the Government discussion paper that contains proposals for supporting lone parents. It consists of proposals to expand the availability and the range of education and training for lone parents, the extension of the national employment action plan to focus on lone parents and the introduction of a new social assistance payment for low-income families with young children.

The Minister has also recognised the work of carers and the contribution they make to society. Without those people, many of our more vulnerable members in society would find it much harder to cope. Much ground-breaking work has been done since 1997 and increases have been made across the board. I am glad that recognition has been given to carers. They play a valuable role in our society and it is important that they are supported financially. Since taking up office in 1997, the Government has been committed to supporting care in the community to the maximum extent possible.

Over that period, weekly payment rates to carers have been greatly increased. Qualifying conditions for the carer's allowance have been significantly eased and coverage of the scheme has been extended. New schemes have been introduced, such as carer's benefit and the respite care grant. As a result of these improvements, there are almost 28,500 carers in receipt of their allowance or benefit. These carers also receive a respite care grant, as do approximately 10,000 other carers. The Minister's commitment to carers speaks for itself.

The Bill provides for a number of improvements to the supplementary welfare allowance. The rent supplement scheme is part of the overall supplement package announced in last December's budget. This includes an extension of the qualifying conditions and an easing of the rent supplement means test. The key objectives of the changes are to simplify the means test, so that a rent supplement recipient can judge the impact of an offer of work, and address the disincentives and eliminate the poverty traps faced by rent supplement recipients seeking to increase their hours of work, or wishing to take up full-time employment.

There is concern about retirement income at present and for the future. The position, thankfully, will remain favourable for a number of years. Everybody is entitled to adequate income, dignity and security in their older years and the Government recognises that fact. It is committed to delivering adequate retirement income to all our citizens in a way that is economically and socially sustainable.

I welcome the efforts of the Minister for Social and Family Affairs. He has made his mark in the Department and I know he will make further improvements across the board, helping lone parents, pensioners and so on. I wish him the best with those efforts and I commend the Bill to the House.

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