Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for that commentary on County Donegal where he mentioned many people depended on social transfers. That is the reason, as Minister for Social Protection, I was delighted to be able to restore the Christmas bonus, particularly for older and retired persons in the county who relied on their State contributory or non-contributory pension. I was delighted to increase the percentage to 75%. This meant payments for pensioner couples of €320 before Christmas to help with Christmas expenses. For a single person, the amount came to €170.

Thankfully the cost of oil and other fuels has fallen in the past year. Notwithstanding this, because of the level of economic growth, on 1 January I raised the fuel allowance by €2.50 per week. Of the 400,000 households that will benefit from the improvement in the allowance, many of them are in County Donegal. In addition, I was able to grant a small increase in the weekly pension rate to people aged over 66 years of €3. Many of these payments will find their way to people living in County Donegal. Also, for those who do not have medical cards, last year we introduced doctor cards for children under six years and people aged over 70. We hope that, if the electorate chooses to return the Government to office, during the life of the next Government we will be able to extend these cards to all primary schoolchildren and, ultimately, all children and various categories of older people.

Having visited County Donegal this summer and spoken to many of those managing social protection offices and people working in the hotel business, I know that the county has seen a singular renaissance in tourism as a consequence of the Government's development of the Wild Atlantic Way. I am happy to report from talking to people involved in hotels in County Donegal-----

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