Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This Bill seeks to implement the social welfare changes announced in the budget. Contrary to speculation, Fianna Fáil did not draw up budget 2017 but it did influence it. As a result of the influence we exercised in the budget we are beginning to see an element of fairness being restored to the social welfare system after five years of harsh, punitive and regressive budgets. This budget, for the first time in many years, is not weighted in favour of those least in need. Fianna Fáil can take a certain amount of credit for that.

I was never a fully paid up member of the school of economics such that when one has money one should spend it. However, that is precisely what we did in the past in terms of social welfare and I make no apologies for our having done so. In 1997 and 2007 under Fianna Fáil and Fianna Fáil-led Governments, basic social welfare rates increased by 123%, which is three times the 41% increase in the Consumer Price Index and double the 61% increase in gross average industrial earnings. It is true to say that in the teeth of the financial crisis, in 2010, we were forced to cut social welfare. That was a very painful decision, politically, and one which cost Fianna Fáil dearly. However, we did not cut pensions or ancillary benefits and so the cut was the minimum possible that we could impose in the particular circumstances.

Despite the increases that we provided when times were better it is true that we did not make anybody in receipt of social welfare rich. Nobody who is reliant on social welfare to survive from week to week can be described as being well-off. What we did was lift a lot of people out of poverty, although only barely. That is the reality. Bad or inadequate as social welfare provisions here may be, they compare very favourably with those in our neighbouring jurisdiction across the Border. For example, in this country jobseeker's allowance for people under 25 years of age is €100 per week, soon to increase to €102.70 compared with €65 in Northern Ireland. For people here aged over 25 years it is €188, soon to increase to €193, whereas in Northern Ireland it is the princely sum of €82.23. Similarly with job seeker's benefit. Disability allowance here is €188 per week compared with €93 per week in Northern Ireland. Carer's allowance here is €204 per week for people under 66 years of age and for people over 66 years of age and caring for one person it is €242, compared with €69 in Northern Ireland. I wonder who is in charge there?

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