Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister for his contribution, however, I am disappointed at the manner in which the proposal has come before the House. The Minister thanked all sides of the House for the opportunity to bring this motion forward. The Fine Gael Party did not want to prevent this happening because of the timescales involved.

The proposal was presented to the Council on 25 July 2007, with a three-month timeframe for Ireland to notify the Council if it wished to take part in the negotiations. This is the fourth week of the Dáil term and it is disappointing the proposal was discussed at Cabinet only last Tuesday when effectively, the last day it could come before the House would be next Tuesday. We were notified after 9.30 p.m. on Tuesday last that this motion would be discussed today. That notice is inadequate to tease out the intricacies of a proposal, that could have important consequences.

I support the proposal for better integration of third country nationals who are already legally resident in the European Union. Does the Minister have statistics on the number of people who will fall under this measure, on a temporary and permanent basis? I accept the figure can change over time, but were the regulation to be enacted in the next year, what is the likely number? Extending the provisions of the EC regulation will have cost implications. The Minister will understand that I do not have much faith in Government statistics on non-EU nationals given its appalling inability to calculate the numbers in the recent past, for example on the social welfare early childhood supplement. I think the Government did not realise it would have to be paid to non-nationals. At one point we were told by the then Minister for Social and Family Affairs that it would cost €10 million. The Department of Health and Children also had a figure of €10 million, but the Taoiseach originally said it would cost €1 million, but at this point it has cost upwards of €10 million. I appreciate that the introduction of the early childhood supplement was a Government proposal that had been suggested by the Fine Gael Party in advance of the Government's announcement. We need accurate figures on the numbers that will fall under this measure.

The briefing note on this motion states the Government is looking for consent to take part in the negotiations and further states that it wishes to take part in the adoption and application of the instrument. Does that mean the Government proposes putting forward changes in the instrument to date? Is there room for negotiation?

The Minister may have seen reports on the social insurance fund, in particular a report by Mercer Consultants to the Minister for Social and Family Affairs which states that PRSI contributions will not be enough to pay for welfare benefits in three years time, at which point the system will face huge deficits. What impact will these proposals have on the social welfare system? This brings us back to the numbers who will be eligible to be paid from social welfare, which is under quite a degree of pressure.

I support the motion, but questions need to be answered on it. While I appreciate the Minister of State, Deputy Pat The Cope Gallagher, does not have ultimate responsibility for this, he is representing the Minister for Social and Family Affairs and I hope he can answer some of these questions when concluding.

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