Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The arrangements put in place are necessitated by the fact that two Bills must be enacted arising from the budget announcements by the Minister for Finance yesterday, including the social welfare Bill which, in the normal way, must be taken after every budget. Unfortunately in this instance, while we have been able to safeguard the real take home value of benefits, the financial situation is such that we must have a contribution from the social welfare budget next year, as we have to have from every other area of expenditure.

We have sought to do that in a way that is as fair as possible and by stabilising the deficit and safeguarding the value of payments on the basis that the decrease in the cost of living this year has been 6.5%. As I have said on several occasions, it is against a background of record increases and improvements in social welfare payments during budgetary cycles when there were resources beyond what are available currently.

We will still have spending of more than €21 billion on social welfare next year at a time when receipts this year will not exceed €30 billion to €32 billion. That is accepted and acknowledged by everybody as being unsustainable. In the interests of maintaining good support for people on fixed incomes and who require State support, it is incumbent on any responsible Government to take whatever steps are necessary to close the gap between what we are spending and what we are in receipt of from taxpayers in order that we can maintain a decent level of support into the longer term.

The budget debate will adjourn today after leaders have spoken and it will resume in the normal way when the Whips agree the Order of Business. It is normal to take the social welfare Bill over a two day period, as has been the case in the past. When I was asked a couple of weeks ago when it would be taken, I said it would be taken in a way that would ensure its enactment would be timely to allow for whatever changes decided on by Government. That has now come to pass.

We must also pursue a Bill in regard to public sector pay levels and it will be taken next week while the social welfare Bill will be taken this week. I assure Deputies that the Government and those who support it are four-square behind the need to make the corrections we are making in the medium term and the long-term interests of this country and in the interests of those recipients who depend on us to provide them with decent support in the social welfare code.

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