Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate on the Social Welfare Bill. As I have stated on many occasions, we must never go back to the boom and bust policies of the previous Fianna Fáil Government. Every citizen in Ireland has paid a heavy price for the reckless behaviour of past Fianna Fáil-led Governments. I am happy that this Government is taking a more prudent and sensible approach and this is reflected in the Social Welfare Bill.

There is no doubt that the public finances are improving and it is important that all members of society benefit from this. While the budget is not a giveaway budget, it gives a little bit back to many. More than 840,000 people will benefit from a weekly increase for the first time since 2009. The total budget for social welfare will be almost €20 billion next year alone and this represents almost 35% of the total expenditure in 2017. To put this in context, the total amount allocated to social welfare for 2017 will be more than the combined budgets for the Departments with responsibility for health, justice and housing.

I welcome measures introduced in this Bill by the Minister, Deputy Leo Varadkar, and the fact weekly payments for pensioners, carers, people with disabilities, widows, lone parents and job seekers will all see a modest improvement. I also welcome the fact the invalidity pension will be extended to the self-employed and that they will also gain from the treatments benefit package which includes dental, optical and hearing benefits. Particularly pleasing is the fact that lone parents will benefit from the new €500 cost of education allowance. Some 50,000 children will also benefit now from the school meals programme.

The reversal of the cuts to the farm assist scheme and the increase of 500 new places on the rural social scheme will be welcomed in the farming sector. From my extensive dealings with the farming community, I know and understand their concerns. They are facing constant challenges with regards to falling income, increasing costs and the uncertainty of the UK’s decision to possibly leave the EU. I know the measures included in this budget, while modest, will be welcomed by the farming sector and rural Ireland.

I know the self-employed sector will be pleased that they will now have access to an extended range of dental and optical benefits as well as access to the invalidity pension. It is my firm believe that the self-employed in this country have been discriminated against with regard to social welfare benefits in the past. This sector has been critical in bringing this country back from the brink and we must support it during its difficult times. Until now, it has had no safety net and did not have the protection of the social welfare system. This Bill is a good start to protecting the self-employed. More than 380,000 self-employed people pay class S PRSI. From March 2017, the self-employed will be entitled to access to optical, dental and hearing benefits currently available to employees under the treatment benefit scheme. The self-employed will now also be entitled to apply for the invalidity pension with effect from December 2017. The Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Varadkar, has stated that he intends to continue to extend the benefits available to the self-employed through the social protection scheme and I for one will support him on this.

I am a firm believer that work must always pay. A person must always be better off working than having to rely on social welfare. Over the past number of years I have seen a steady decrease in the number of people who have to rely on social welfare for their daily needs. It is important that reliance on social welfare is seen as a temporary measure and that every effort is made to get people who are capable of working back to work. Those who are unable to work due to illness or injury must also be fully supported and, in this regard, I welcome the changes to the various schemes.

As I have already stated, the total social welfare budget for 2017 is almost €20 billion and represents nearly 35% of total Government expenditure for next year. This demonstrates the Government's commitment to helping those in the unfortunate position of being unemployed or unable to work due to illness or injury.

I welcome the changes being introduced by the Minister. I welcome the fact that as more money comes available due to a growing economy we have more resources to invest in our public services and social welfare schemes. In February of this year, the people made it very clear that they wanted more resources for public services. The Government has listened and, with the programme for Government, has committed to these policies. We must not forget that in order to invest more in public services we need a growing and vibrant economy. We do not need a boom and bust economy like that of the last Fianna Fáil Government or one such as that advocated by those in Sinn Féin. People must never forget the mess left behind by Fianna Fáil and the heavy price paid by all citizens as a result.

I welcome the measures contained in the Social Welfare Bill and look forward to seeing them introduced.

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