Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her clarification on the social protection calculation in terms of the total contributions.

Now, can we get back to the meat of the issue? The fundamental problem I have with these provisions is that the affected children are the only children whose parents are in receipt of a social welfare payment who will get no increase next year. Bizarrely, parents in receipt of the working family payment who have up to three children will be €936 better off next year. With regard to the other social welfare schemes, the child dependant allowance is being increased across the board. An unemployed family with four children, two of whom are under the age of 12, will be €728 better off, yet we are saying the working poor with four or more children are entitled to nothing. Every other child whose parents are in receipt of a social welfare payment will get an increase. Will the Minister explain to me how it is not discrimination if we are picking out a small cohort of children who will not get any benefit?

Let me remind the Minister of the reason payments have been increased across the board for children. The funding is coming from the carbon tax so people on low incomes and social welfare payments will not be hit unduly by that tax. Families with four children or more are hit by the carbon tax also. These are the working poor. It is not right that we should send out a message from the national Parliament that we are not interested in families among the working poor who have four or more children.

The reality is that this is not an issue that has arisen only this year. On the last two occasions that the working family payment thresholds were increased, families with four or more children were not included. This is the third time that a Minister for Social Protection has come in here and left out that group. The fundamental difference on this occasion, however, is that every other child whose parents are in receipt of a social welfare payment is to get an increase next year. They are getting the increase next year because of the impact of the carbon tax, yet we are saying that the group of children in question will not get the increase and will have to carry the full burden of the tax. It seems to have happened just at the stroke of a pen.

I could understand it if budgets were tight and if we were talking about a prohibitive cost. I acknowledge the Minister's sincerity in this regard but we are talking about €2.6 million out of a budget of €25 billion. It makes no sense that the small group of affected children should be discriminated against while every other child whose parents are given a payment is to get an increase and is acknowledged. This is an anomaly in the legislation that I, for one, cannot accept.

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