Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I concur with many of the sentiments expressed by my colleague, Deputy Aindrias Moynihan. The Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Leo Varadkar, maintains budget 2017 is the first socially just budget in years. However, he needs to redress the wrongs many retired persons or individuals who are due to retire are experiencing because of previous budget measures. Many of them have been adversely affected by the anomaly in how entitlement to the State contributory pension is calculated. I have been presented with a large number of cases where individuals, all women, have been penalised for having made a small number of PRSI payments during what effectively amounted to a previous working life before 1994. They took time out of their working lives to rear their families or look after elderly parents, essentially peforming important social caring duties to the benefit of society. Having spent a great portion of their lives in providing these socially vital services, they are now being penalised on the double. Not only have they secured no private pension entitlements for this period of their lives, they are being denied a full State pension. While I welcome the €5 increase in the State pension, many will only receive a portion of it because of the discriminatory method of calculation. Clearly, this must change. It is clearly unfair and requires urgent action. It would certainly move the budget in a more just direction.

I was disappointed that the back to school clothing and footwear allowance was not increased. This payment was ravaged by the previous Fine Gael-Labour Party Government and is wholly inadequate to cover back to school costs. The previous Government halved the allowance which is a vital payment for low-income parents in meeting back to school costs. Budget 2017 did not offer any relief to parents with back to school costs. Some 42% of parents who answered the 2016 Barnardos back to school costs survey told how they had to forgo paying household bills or cut back on daily expenses to afford their child's school costs. This lack of foresight for young families deprives many of the equality all children deserve to achieve their potential and contribute to a strong community and economy. I have also been asked by constituents to address the collateral effects of the reduced allowance. Many school suppliers are being put in a difficult position in trying to produce uniforms for schools that come in under the inadequate allowance.

It is disappointing that the budget failed to address the introduction of a cost of disability payment in recognition of the higher costs faced by those with a disability. This was a central plank of Fianna Fáil's disability policy in its manifesto. It would have been a welcome measure in the budget.

The family income supplement thresholds were not increased in line with the increases in the national minimum wage and reductions in the universal social charge. Consequently, the full benefits of the increase in the national minimum wage will not be felt by households with children.

I have two points on older people. Although I welcome the €5 increase in the old age pension, it is a shame that the budget did not increase the living alone allowance to acknowledge the higher costs faced by those who live alone. Independent research has consistently highlighted the additional costs faced by those living alone and reliant on one income or State support. A one-person household generally faces the same heating, electricity and home insurance costs as a two-person household. There is a considerable inadequacy in this regard that needs to be examined.

Budget 2017 did not increase the fuel allowance, the period for which was cut from 32 weeks to 26 weeks by the previous Government. While the cost of energy decreased in 2016, it remains 16.7%, on average, above the level of 2010. Not addressing the reduced purchasing power of the fuel allowance leaves long-term social-welfare-dependent households particularly vulnerable to fuel poverty, particularly as we face into a tough and harsh winter.

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