Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)

This Bill comes before the House at a difficult time for us all, particularly with the economy in crisis. Communities and families have fears as to how they will fare over the next several years. The Government announced it will cut social welfare by €2.8 billion between 2011 and 2014 in its four year recovery plan. Over the past several weeks, however, we have seen that retiring Ministers and Members will receive huge pensions and golden handshakes while a man who has worked 47 years on a building site will be lucky to get €30 a month in a pension from the Construction Industry Federation.

The Bill seeks another €350 million in a Supplementary Estimate to the €21 billion already paid out this year. Many people on social welfare do not want to be on it. They want to work and live in a society in which work means something. They also want to contribute to their communities and their families. The social welfare system is preventing this because it can be more beneficial to stay at home on social welfare. The system needs to be taken apart and revamped to allow people who want to work the option of working rather than sitting at home.

FÁS is a failed agency. My colleague, Deputy Burke, spoke about how FÁS has contributed to many communities through community employment schemes. I have seen many people in communities who would never have got into the workplace if it were not for these schemes.

A larger issue around FÁS, however, is the fate of the many apprentices who find themselves in employment limbo. If they decide to enter a course, they will be asked to pay €140 for fees and €170 for materials at a time when, this week, many young people were informed by letter that their social welfare will be reduced to €100 a week. For many of them, they cannot go back into the workplace because the jobs are simply not there. Many apprentices have no workplace to finish their 13 weeks training and get the next certificate.

I met a young man recently who was waiting to finish his plumbing apprenticeship. He only needed 13 weeks work on the job. When I telephoned him last week to see how he was getting on, I discovered he had been admitted to St. Patrick's University Hospital. He fell apart because he simply could not manage. It is a sad state of affairs when young people who want to work or go back into education cannot do so and find no alternative but to self-harm or worse.

I do not understand the provision in the Bill for a mobile telephone sign-up facility for the dole. It might have been a good runner on "The Late Late Toy Show" and come top of the list for many children. It is ridiculous that we have been trying to sort out a social welfare system in which people turn up and a human face is seen across a counter. It reduces people to statistics and will only worsen social welfare fraud.

I welcome the reform of the rent supplement benefit, particularly that landlords will have to provide their tax reference numbers which should have been introduced long ago. For many who receive rent supplement, the quality and the standard of the accommodation available to them is very poor. People with young children are often put into single rooms, sharing bathrooms and other facilities. It is wrong to ask people to share such accommodation. Inspections must be included in any changes to the rent supplement scheme to tackle poor accommodation and fraud. Two weeks ago, I overheard a man getting the house-to-rent supplement saying he was renting out one of the rooms for €500 a month. Tackling that type of fraud needs to be examined carefully.

With the weather so bad over the past several weeks and temperatures of -10° Celsius predicted for the next few days, I am concerned elderly people in receipt of social welfare are still not adequately heating their homes, afraid to turn on the extra bar in their electric fires because it will cost too much. Social welfare must be about looking after people in such circumstances. Many elderly people are fearful of what will happen over the next three weeks coming up to Christmas, particularly with the loss of the Christmas bonus. They depended on this payment coming up to Christmas time, not only for buying presents but having a little bit extra heat or buying some extra food.

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