James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)

The Government engaged in much spin in respect of the budget and what it delivered. There was little in the budget to tackle poverty. The Government spent more on spin doctors in the past ten years than on tackling real problems in society and rolling out community care services. The Government did little to lift old people from the poverty trap and leave them comfortable in their retirement. It ignored the poor, the ill and the disabled and those who care for those groups. It also ignored farmers' wives.

Every week 3.5 million hours are worked by 150,000 family carers, yet only one in six carers qualify for the carer's allowance. The Carers Association estimated that the work of family carers in Ireland saves the State over €2.2 billion per year, yet the allowance has only been increased by a miserly €14. We are aware of the wonderful services provided by carers and if they were not there the State would have to provide these services. Fine Gael believes that people should have their means individually assessed to demonstrate that it is the carer and not the carer's partner who provides the care. The carer's partner's income should be excluded from the means test. That would be fair and just. It is clear that the current subvention for nursing home care has fallen far out of line with increased charges in nursing home fees etc.

Throughout the State, carers find it difficult to take up part-time work because the rules on working and receiving the carer's allowance are restrictive. The last budget gave the Government a golden opportunity to ease the restrictions by raising the working hours limit to 20 hours per week, enabling more carers to take up part-time employment. Unfortunately, this did not happen despite promises made on every doorstep in the country before the last general election.

There is unfair pension and PRSI coverage for farm spouses working on farms. Where a spouse or partner assists in the day-to-day running of the farm business but is not a business partner in the formal sense, the spouse is not covered for social insurance purposes as a self-employed person or an employee. They are treated as qualified adult dependants as regards payments, benefits and pensions.

The same goes for people who retired under the marriage ban in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Many women who are wives of gardaí are affected by this. The Government must recognise the role of farm spouses working on farms by allowing spouses or partners to make PRSI contributions to qualify for self-employed social insurance benefits, including contributory State pensions. Personal PRSI coverage would provide long overdue recognition of the status of the farm spouse or partner as a person who makes a very important and independent contribution to the family farm, the economy and society. For a long time I have advocated that where a spouse works on a farm without formally structured income by means of a partnership arrangement and does not have PRSI coverage, the spouse should be provided with the option of alternative coverage, such as those who are self-employed, for a flat rate annual contribution of up to €200 where a farm income threshold of €20,000 applies and a farm income related contribution of 2% above that income level. The contribution by the self-employed spouse should be voluntary. The main condition should be that the spouse is working on the farm and not covered by PRSI in her own right.

Many female spouses, as with other women in the workforce, have worked as employees or have been self-employed for part of their careers and have then left the workforce to raise children or care for incapacitated or elderly relatives. The current home maker disregard scheme is a limited response to this situation. We should move from the PRSI disregard to a PRSI home maker beefed up credits scheme. This would recognise the value of the woman's role in the home to society. It would also ensure a more comprehensive pension entitlement.

I have serious concerns about the treatment of a relatively small group of self-employed people, mainly farmers, who are excluded from the State's contributory pension because of the ten-year rule. These people were in the 50 to 60 year age bracket in April 1998 and do not fulfil the eligibility criteria for the State contributory old age pension. Eligibility for the special 50% State contributory old age pension should be extended to those aged 60 to 65 in April 1998. Those who were deemed by their accountants not to have an income at that time should be given similar rights. We must encourage better pension provision for farmers to enable younger people to take up farming as a career. This is not happening because the Minister has ignored the farming community with regard to pension for far too long.

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