Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I accept the broader point. I will ask my officials to look at the report to see if we can make it more meaningful. What we must do is show the Irish people from a transparency perspective what we are doing with the €20 billion that is entrusted to my Department. Most importantly, however, the people we are trying to help need to see the effects and benefits of it.

I acknowledge where the Deputy is coming from with regard to the increase in payment rates, but I doubt that I would ever be lucky enough to get the amount of money that would be required to provide those types of rates. In essence, the Department does not provide fully for somebody's outgoings. I recognise that the moneys we give are not sufficient, especially from an old age pension perspective, to provide people with the quality of life they would have had when they were working. That is the reason I am introducing the automatic pension enrolment so we do not have another generation of people who are short of money in their retirement and to ensure people start planning for their retirement now. I also wish to ensure that, instead of just giving more money in schemes, we enhance the services people get and reduce the cost of living in respect of those services, be they in child care, education or health. It is not just down to our Department to continually change that €20 billion into €25 billion and €30 billion. It is up to the whole of Government to examine all the services we provide for people to ensure they have a decent quality and standard of life and enough money in their back pockets to be able to enjoy themselves.

See this speech in context