Margaret Conlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to make a contribution.

By any standard, expenditure of €21.1 billion is a significant amount for a Department. This represents an increase of €676 million. I am sure the Minister wishes the sum was falling because the increase is due to the fact that more people are signing on the live register. However, it is accepted by all sides that savings of €4 billion were needed. It would be foolhardy to believe social welfare could remain untouched. Social welfare spending accounts for one third of our day-to-day spending and represents one of the biggest spending Departments alongside the Departments of Education and Science and Health and Children. We could not leave it as it was. As a country, we could not continue to borrow €420 million per week to sustain our day-to-day spending. Any household, business or individual spending more than is being taken in must put on the brakes. One has to do something about this, make sacrifices and make changes. One must take steps to rectify the position. The Government had no choice but to do this. It was faced with a dilemma of whether to cut rates or services in respect of social welfare. Cutting the rates was a better option because diluting frontline services will place undue hardship on those who need services most. No amount of money can compensate people for inadequate services.

I welcome the fact that we have excluded the State pension from any cuts. The recipients of this have made their contribution to society, paying taxes during previous recessions, when times were bad and it was very difficult for them. We recognise that they are in the later years of their lives and have made their contributions. They do not have the opportunity to supplement their incomes and it would be unfair of us to expect them to rely on their families to support them. I welcome the fact that the household benefit package remains intact. Many elderly people have a new lease of life because of this. They can hop on a bus and take a tour around the country or take the train. They also receive free telephone services and this has made life much better for them.

I spoke to a woman in her 80s last week before the budget. She was widowed when she was in her 30s and was left with a very large family. She told me that she had seen the best of times and the worst of times. When she was raising her children it was very difficult for her to tell them that they could not have certain things they wanted because she could not afford them. If the kitchen needed to be painted and she did not have the money, she did not do it. She did not have the capacity to borrow and did not want to put herself into serious debt. As a person who benefited from the State pension, she told me that if contributing €20 a week of her pension would help make the country a better place, she would be willing to do so. She said that she could not afford to do it but that she would make sacrifices again if she had to. These are the kind of people we have in this country, people who are willing to make sacrifices.

A man in receipt of welfare payments telephoned me this afternoon. He was not pleased that he faces a cut of more than €8, but he has decided to stop smoking. The reduction equates to a packet of cigarettes and he will do without them, which would be healthier for him. He will make that sacrifice if it is for the good of the country. As a country, we support those who need welfare. It is widely recognised that the increases have been very generous over the years. We have one of the best welfare systems in Europe. In the past 12 years, pensions have increased by 120%, unemployment benefit has increased by 130% and child benefit payments have increased by 330%. These are not insignificant increases by any standard.

I do not underestimate the difficulties facing Irish families, nor do I want to be insensitive to them. Every family in this country is hurting for one reason or another. What is important is that we have a social welfare system that is sustainable for the future. We must continue to protect those who are most vulnerable. If we did nothing, and left the social welfare system as it is, we would find ourselves in a worse situation. Standing still is not an option. If our country ends up bankrupt, what good would it be to those who rely on the State to support them and provide them with an income? That is the reality we face. No Minister or Deputy wants to make difficult decisions. Would we not all like to be popular? However, we cannot be distracted or attracted by the lure of populism. It is much more important to do the right thing.

As a mother, I understand the feelings people have on the reduction in child benefit. I would have preferred if we did not have to reduce child benefit but the straight cut was the fairest way. There are major logistical and legal difficulties with taxing and means testing. This is a universal payment to the mothers of Ireland for the most part and it is important that they still receive some payment, albeit reduced, for their children. I welcome that the Minister sought to protect people on welfare by increasing the qualified adult amount to compensate for the reduction in child benefit.

One of the major responsibilities of this Government is to encourage people to get back to work or undertake training or education. We cannot have a culture of dependency on welfare. We cannot create or sustain it and the longer young people remain on welfare, the more difficult it becomes for them to get back into training, education or work. We must provide incentives to ensure they get back into work.

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