Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I picked up a copy of the social inclusion report, Building an Inclusive Society, on my way to the Chamber, which would have put me in the mood for this debate if that had been necessary, which it was not. I compliment the Minister on that report. Reared as I was in my political work by my former colleague and Deputy, Mr. Chris Flood, I have always been keen to stress social inclusion ideals.

I had the opportunity today to co-chair a meeting of the Joint Committee on Social and Family Affairs with Deputy Jackie Healy-Rae where excellent presentations were made by the Combat Poverty Agency and CORI. I would like to mention that CORI has produced an analysis and critique of the budget which I recommend to all Members as it is an excellent publication.

The Minister has already outlined the main provisions of the Bill. I will not repeat them, but I congratulate him on achieving a fine level of support from the Tánaiste through the negotiation of this welcome €900 million. This package, which represents nearly half of all additional current Government spending announced in last week's budget, brings total expenditure on social welfare in 2008 to almost €17 billion. This figure of €17 billion demonstrates the Government's commitment to social and family affairs. At a time of more moderate growth, it will continue to ensure the less well off in society are protected, which is something we should all strive to achieve. I note from the Minister's contribution the scale of the services provided by the 4,300 staff in the social welfare area.

The 50 schemes and other supports the Department of Social and Family Affairs provide will benefit over 1.5 million people. Families also receive child benefit for almost 1.2 million children, which ensures that decisive steps are taken in implementing commitments in the programme for Government, Towards 2016 and the national action plan for social inclusion.

As the Minister is aware, I am a strong advocate of the elderly generally and in my constituency of Dublin South-West, which embraces Firhouse, Brittas, Bohernabreena, Greenhills, Templeogue and Tallaght. I am pleased the Government is committed to achieving a pension of at least €300 per week by 2012, despite the budgetary constraints, by increasing the State contributory pension by €14 a week to €223.30 per week and the non-contributory State pension by €12 to €212 per week. This is welcome in that the increases exceed inflation. The Minister will be aware of the fine pre-budget submission sent to him by the Tallaght Welfare Society, of which I am happy to be a board member. Tallaght is the third largest population centre in the country. I support the submission made on behalf of many organisations in the town.

As the Minister has stated, much of the current debate on pensions is focused on the challenges to be met in the decades ahead as our population ages. These major issues for our society must be faced. However, we must not forget that those who are living on pensions need to be catered for. We should ensure that our pensioners have a decent income. Increases in pensions over many years have been one of the Government's major achievements. The contributory State pension has increased by over 50% in recent years, from €147.30 in 2002 to €223.30 following this budget. Like many other Members, I welcome the marked impact of this improvement on the living standards of older people. The benefits of these increases was evident in the figures issued last week as part of the EU survey on income and living conditions, which confirmed the steady improvements of recent years. The risk of poverty for older people has fallen from just under 30% in 2003 to 13.6% in 2006. The decrease last year of 6.5%, when compared to the previous year, can be noted before the substantial 2007 and 2008 improvements in social welfare pensions are taken into account.

The Minister's commitment to increasing the pensioner qualified adult allowance to the level of the State non-contributory pension represents a major step forward. This year's budget provides for an increase of €27 per week in the qualified adult rate, bringing the overall payment to €200 per week. This increase, which will be of particular benefit to women who are not entitled to a contributory pension in their own right because they had home responsibilities in the past, is to be supported. The changes in the personal pension rate and the qualified adult rate will lead next year to an increase of up to €41 a week, or almost 11%, in the household incomes of more than 42,000 pensioner couples.

Like other Deputies, I have been a supporter of the Carers Association for a long time. I have lobbied continuously for acknowledgement of the contribution that carers make in our society. I pay tribute to Deputy Penrose, the former Chairman of the Joint Committee on Social and Family Affairs, who did a great deal of pioneering work in this area.

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