Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

Deputy McGinley referred to the half rate payment for carers. The rate will be reduced to half the new rate of the carer's benefit. Carers asked us not to abolish the half rate carer's allowance, as recommended in the McCarthy report. While I understand that no one wants the payment to be reduced by €4.25 per week, carers are relieved that the scheme was not abolished.

The case raised by Deputy Crawford provides me with an opportunity to highlight one example which could be useful to Deputies. A widow with three children who works part time and is in receipt of the contributory pension would receive €291 per week. Assuming she is working 19 hours per week on the minimum wage, she would receive a further €163 per week. On this income, with three children, she would qualify for the family income supplement under which she would receive a further €149 per week. This would make a significant difference to her income as she would receive a total of €725 per week, of which €562 would be paid by the State. I am not trying to justify a cut in her social welfare payment.

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