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

The Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2008 provides for the implementation of certain social welfare improvements announced by the Minister for Finance in the 2008 budget. These include increases in child benefit, early child care supplement and the respite care grant. Provision is also made for an increase in income limit for the one-parent family payment and a change in the assessment of income for the purposes of qualification for the payment.

I congratulate the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Deputy Cullen, on his successful negotiation of the social welfare package of €900 million against the reduced financial position announced in December 2007. This arises not only from my general interest in the area but also from my recent appointment as Vice Chairman of the Joint Committee on Social and Family Affairs under the chairmanship of Deputy Jackie Healy-Rae, who succeeded Deputy Willie Penrose, a colleague of the Acting Chairman, Deputy Kathleen Lynch. I do not wish to patronise, but I always pay tribute to the work of Deputy Penrose in this regard. He kept the joint committee on an even keel. In this Chamber politics must be played, and that is fair enough, but I am sure the Deputies opposite will agree that at joint committee level, where possible, people should be seen to be working together. As the Acting Chairman and I discovered this morning, that is not always possible in some committees, but it is something we should try to achieve.

I note the Minister's comments in his speech last night to the effect that the generous package contained in the Bill represents nearly half of all additional current Government spending announced in the budget and that it brings total expenditure on social welfare in 2008 to just under €17 billion. Deputies on all sides of the House should acknowledge the increased level of expenditure and the benefits it brings to almost all households. I represent the constituency of Dublin South-West which, like every other constituency, has experienced challenges in the area of social welfare that have demanded a response over the years. I live in a town which many years ago experienced the particular challenge of unemployment.

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