Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is very good to see the Ceann Comhairle back. I, too, commend the Minister on her work on the Social Welfare Bill, which is the largest package in the history of the State. It comes at a most important time, when families are facing difficulties with fuel price challenges and cost-of-living challenges generally. I also commend the Minister on the structure of the Bill. I recognise that these changes will take effect from January and will include the front-loading of direct cash payments and lump-sum payments to families who need them most at this time of the year, when heating is being turned back on and heating bills are going up. I commend the structure of that and note that this approach was not, unfortunately, adopted by Sinn Féin and critics of the Government. This is exactly the right approach to get money to people, when they need it, through the mechanisms that are there.

I particularly compliment the Minister on her focus on working families, an exceptionally important group. The changes to tax in the Finance Bill and the extension of the threshold for the working family payment, which is a very important change, support families at work who are under pressure. I again note that Sinn Féin took no such approach to support working families in the same way, which is so disappointing because it is something that should be supported right across the House. The Minister is aware of the number of times I have raised with her the changes we wanted to see to the domiciliary care allowance and its extension. I again thank her for her work on that. I also note that she has managed to introduce the first increase in that allowance since 2009, bringing it up to €330 a month. That comes on the back of last year's good progress on carers, where there was the first really significant extension to the income thresholds, and a savings disregard for that, for 14 years. These are exactly the sorts of values I want to see reflected in this House: support for carers and families who need it most and have a child or elderly person who needs extra care, or a child with a disability. I met one lady in Shankill last week who has given up her working life for a different life caring for her child and is afraid the increases to the carer's allowance will go some day. That is the big worry that keeps her awake at night. I tried to explain the approach of Fine Gael and the Minister, which is to extend eligibility and protect people in that group. It is so very important.

I will highlight the work around the extension to the fuel allowance generally, especially to the over-70s. So many people in my constituency are living in houses that have been paid for but, because there are no other places for them to move to, they are living in houses they cannot necessarily afford to heat. There is no discrimination in that; it can come to any house at any time. The extension the Minister has made to the fuel allowance, particularly for the over-70s, is an important statement of values for those we will not allow to get cold this winter or any winter. These are very important changes that the Minister has introduced. I commend her work on them and her constant focus on eradicating poverty and devoting resources to those who genuinely need them most.

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