Margaret Cox (Fianna Fail)

They are receiving opportunities that were never there before and that is being recognised in the increases in these payments.

In our programme for Government, we promised to increase the lowest pension to €200 by 2007. This year, a €10 increase was a first step towards meeting that commitment. We have sought to ensure that older people, widows and women, in particular, have more money in their hands at the end of the day. This budget protects the less well-off and the Government has sought to do that by ensuring the lowest payments are protected in real terms.