Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)

I commend my colleague, Deputy Barry Cowen, our spokesperson on social welfare, on bringing forward this opportune Private Members' motion on the importance of protecting our social welfare payments and of holding the Government to account in terms of ensuring the people who are most vulnerable in these difficult financial times are protected as far as is possible in the upcoming budget.

We bring forward this motion on the back of what has always been a very strong ethos in the Fianna Fáil Party of social solidarity and a very strong social conscience. That goes back to the foundation of our party, right through all those times we were in government. Many of the initiatives introduced over the years were the foundation stone of our party's success. Our party has certainly not lost that social conscience, nor the understanding that it is the job of a party in government to ensure that everybody is looked after, including those who are vulnerable and those who need a leg up when they hit hardship, while ensuring that those who are able and in a position to work do their bit and contribute in a manner that makes sure nobody is left behind. Fianna Fáil's record in government over the last few years would demonstrate these traits. Pension levels were increased by 130%, unemployment benefits increased by 130% and child benefits increased by 330%.

The importance of this is highlighted by the fact that every week, about 1.4 million people receive a social welfare payment of some description. That is absolutely critical to many of those families. We are talking about pensioners, people who are currently unemployed, or people who are carers, as Deputy Troy outlined earlier. All of these people depend on such payments, and by carrying out their work, carers save the State much more money. We spend 20% of our GNP on social welfare payments, whereas that figure is 24% in France and 22% in Germany. We are certainly not out of kilter with the EU in this respect.

I know the Government has a very difficult challenge ahead, due to the financial constraints in which we find ourselves. It has very difficult decisions to make in this budget, as the last Government did in a series of budgets when €20 billion was taken out of the national finances. We in opposition will be highlighting the importance of protecting the vulnerable, but we will also hold the Government to account for the promises it made not so long ago. We will point out the damage and hardship caused by cuts made not just to those on social welfare, but across the board. We will point that out, as the parties opposite did in the last Dáil. They also made promises a few months ago, in the full knowledge of the national finances, as to what they would do when they got into government, and they asked for a mandate on that basis. As well as pointing out the hardship caused by the Government's cuts, we will also be holding it to account for every promise it made over nine months ago.

I commend this motion to the House. I thank the House and the Acting Chairman for their co-operation, and I urge Members to support the motion.

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