Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)

I want to make a few brief points in the two minutes I have left. This Bill does not provide for the additional staffing that is needed so that a proper social welfare service can be made available to the public. I am sure the Minister is aware that it is taking an average of 20 weeks to process social welfare applications. It takes 20 weeks for an application for carer's allowance to be approved or refused. If one appeals a social welfare decision, it takes between six and 12 months to get a decision. Those issues should be addressed in this legislation.

While I welcome the restoration of the old minimum wage rate, I find it odd that the Government is providing for that measure in this Bill. The minimum wage was originally provided for in a Finance Act. I suggest this provision has been included as a smokescreen to give some cover to Labour Party Deputies who are being asked to vote for an extension of one's working life before becoming eligible for the old age pension.

The internship scheme needs to be closely monitored. I hope applicants under the scheme will be treated as employees and will be subject to and have the benefit of labour law. It is important that those who are hired as interns under the scheme should not replace existing workers. I hope they will not be used to fill vacancies that have arisen from the non-filling of full-time posts under the recruitment moratorium. This scheme needs to be monitored carefully to prevent abuse.

As I said earlier, this Bill is significant because it includes some very serious measures. It will ensure older people have to work longer and harder, and for less money. I hope Labour Party Members will oppose this measure completely, just as I do. It is significant that certain matters, for example relating to resources and staffing, are not being dealt with in the legislation. During the recent general election campaign, Labour Party candidates throughout the country promised that social welfare cuts would be reversed. I refer particularly to the introduction of the universal social charge and the reduction in carer's allowance.

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