Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)

The motion I speak on today is difficult but the decisions faced by the Government in the past few months have been extremely difficult. Never before have such difficult circumstances been seen in this State. Who would want to have to make the decisions taken by Government? Who would want to increase social welfare payments by 20%? This is all about unemployment and who would want to have to deal with this? The problem we face must be tackled.

The social welfare budget must be increased dramatically and we must spend two thirds of our tax revenue on social welfare because of the economic crisis we face but who would want to do so? We would rather be reducing taxes, with fewer people on welfare. That should be the aim of the Government throughout this crisis. Ideally, there should be less of a Christmas bonus, as who among the unemployed is looking forward to it; they want a job and we must work towards that by getting public finances back in order. People are not looking forward to a Christmas bonus because they want a job instead. It is our responsibility to do whatever we can to try to get them into work.

Some €21.3 billion is being spent on social welfare this year, with the tax take only €33 billion or €34 billion. We are not sure about that and it may even go down. The figure has decreased in the first couple of months of the year, although I have confidence that the actions taken by the Minister will address that. By any measure, a massive amount is being spent on social welfare.

The Minister has ensured that no other areas in social welfare are to be cut at a time when prices are going down. I acknowledge that food prices have not decreased but there is deflationary pressure on food and utilities. I encourage any of my constituents who want to switch utility, particularly electricity to Bord Gáis or Airtricity, to do so. In my own area there is competition for gas supply which brings about a reduced price. The regulator may need to move more quickly but Government action has taken place. Those prices should be decreased and people should get more bang for their buck.

Child benefit has increased dramatically. Why should child benefit be paid as it is to me, a Deputy with two children? It should be taxed or means tested. The Minister has indicated such measures will be introduced, but when they are there will be a Private Members' motion in this House criticising it. Every action taken by this Government is criticised, as well as every change it wishes to make. Every change made by this Government has garnered attention from some lobby group which is then picked up by the Opposition. I would not describe the people benefitting from the Christmas bonus as part of a lobby group but that is the hallmark of the Opposition. This issue concerned a very difficult decision which no Government would like to take.

I urge the Government to reconsider the payment as soon as we are out of the current economic position. It could also be reconsidered as we do more work on fraud prevention. The Minister has done tremendous work on that but much more can be done, as many people are committing social welfare fraud. They must be dealt with as the cake is only so big and it must be divided as best we can. There are inherently difficult decisions in this, which the Opposition knows. Despite that, the Opposition will argue that the Government is acting incorrectly.

At a meeting of the Joint Committee on Social and Family Affairs we met with representatives of the Combat Poverty Agency, which has done much good work. As that agency merged with the Department, there was a lobby group to prevent that happening. Any changes we have made to agencies or in trying to make the social welfare process better have been objected to. I will look for the child benefit payment system to be examined as such a system is not right at a time when we cannot pay the Christmas bonus. We do not have the €223 million to pay the bonus and it cannot be gained through taxation or borrowing.

At the same time as we are dealing with this problem, wealthy people or those with good earnings are still getting a children's allowance. I encourage the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, the Minister for Finance and the Commission on Taxation to consider the issue as savings must be made. We do not know the circumstances of every family but it is not right for people on very high incomes to be taking a bit of the social welfare cake that would be better spent elsewhere, either on the Christmas bonus, reducing the taxation burden or on the extra expenditure required because of unemployment.

There were significant increases in the October budget of 3% or 4% in the payment rates of social welfare. Prices are going down, although there may be arguments about certain aspects, and the phenomenon is being repeated in the UK, even with sterling so weak and imports so expensive. There are advantages and disadvantages to decreasing prices for the economy as a whole but it is good for people on social welfare.

I spoke briefly to the Minister for Finance last week and I told him our challenge as a Government is to keep prices down and provide people with more buying power. We want this Christmas bonus to be paid but the money must be found. The Opposition does not have to find the money and it can just criticise the Government's action. I have confidence that when we emerge from the current economic position, not only will the Christmas bonus be paid but it will not be paid to the tens of thousands of those currently out of work as I hope they will be back at work by then.

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