Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)

She could do so because the previous Government increased the old age pension and introduced a half-rate carer's pay for such families. I was visited them because unfortunately the man in question has gone so bad that his wife is no longer able to look after him. Rather than paying an extra €130 a week to that family, the Government will have to pay a minimum of €700 a week to keep the man in a State home.

We have been ridiculed in this debate for doing what we did. It was suggested that we did it for electoral gain. We did it because we have a strong social conscience. I am fed up attending this House to be spoken down to because I am a member of Fianna Fáil. It is as if we are something one might walk on in the street. Just like people in Fine Gael, the Labour Party, Sinn Féin, the Technical Group or the democratic left alliance or United Left Alliance, or whatever they like to call themselves, many of us in Fianna Fáil have strong social consciences. I do not see why we cannot bring this issue to the floor of the House to be debated. We were elected to articulate our views as we are doing today.

I would like to speak about the issues facing self-employed people who created jobs and paid PRSI, tax and VAT during the good times. In recent years, many of them have gone out of work and are finding it hard to get any sort of social assistance. Their problems must be addressed quickly. It should have been done previously. Perhaps it was a slip of the tongue when the Minister said that being on social welfare is a lifestyle choice. That is not true in the vast majority of cases. I suggest that at least 300,000 of the 440,000 unemployed people in this country never received unemployment benefit until the last three or four years. They did not make a lifestyle choice to go from earning €500, €600 or €700 a week to earning €188 a week.

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