Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I fully appreciate the valuable role played by carers. All of us visited people who are being cared for as well as their carers, including both those who receive no support from the State and those in receipt of the carers allowance. I have met groups representing carers, including in particular the Carers Association, on several occasions at local, county and national levels. We are conscious of the issue, therefore.

As the Taoiseach noted this morning, the social welfare budget of €21 billion constitutes more than one third of total expenditure. We cannot ignore this expenditure in the context of the forthcoming budget. Equally, however, it is not possible at this stage to go through the various elements of the budget and decide what we will cut because that would not be fair to the groups who are not being discussed today. No final decision has been made in respect of any element of the social welfare budget because cutting social welfare payments is the last thing anybody wants to do. However, we have to somehow reduce the budget. It is not the first area we will rush into when dealing with the budget but I cannot give the commitment the Deputy desires.

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