Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Did the Deputy contribute to the debate already? He did. Others sat on the sideline and we will how that works out. For an Oireachtas and Government to function, the Finance Bill and the Social Welfare Bill need to be passed. We need to give some degree of stability also. The budget provided for a €5 increase in the State pension, an increase we stipulated was required; a €5 increase in primary social welfare benefits; a near full restitution of the Christmas bonus; and the increasing of the income disregard to €110. It also included some welcome initiatives for the self-employed to try to equalise the provision of social welfare benefits. That is crucially important. The Government has not gone the full way in that regard but this is a step in the direction. We are particularly disappointed that other elements were not included in the budget, such as provision in respect of the one-parent family payment, and there were no increases in the family income supplement and the back to school clothing and footwear allowance. Other areas like that should have been addressed. However, we live in the real world and we are acutely aware that a finite amount of money is available. We tried to base our financial and economic policies on reality.

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