Michael McCarthy (Labour)

I expect things to deteriorate over the coming years. When the national finances take a turn for the worse through the actions of the apostle of fiscal rectitude, the Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy, the poorest will be hit. I sympathise with the Minister, Deputy Coughlan, as I would with any Cabinet Minister who has to ask the Minister for Finance for money for his or her Department. As evidenced by the now defunct national health strategy, it did not do the Minister for Health and Children much good when he made a convincing case to the Minister for Finance to part with money and stop being so miserable with his allocations. Organisations such as CORI and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and those who care for people in need are not being spoken for at the Cabinet table.

The dental dispute lasted for about two years during which PRSI contributors were unable to avail of treatment. In fairness to the Minister, she brought the dispute to a conclusion. Those most affected by it now find that essential and necessary dental treatment is costing a lot more. In some cases the cost of fillings has trebled. The high cost of living is hitting every household.

The Bill provides for social welfare increases which are a pittance and paltry in the extreme. An unemployed person will receive a real increase of 30 cent per week. An unemployed couple with one child will be given 25 cent extra per week. The child benefit gain works out at about 54 cent per week. The increases are being nullified by the rate of domestic inflation.

The Government gave a commitment over a three year programme to increase child benefit but only delivered on one quarter of the amount. It had been one of the many boasts of previous Ministers and was bandied about in the Government's election manifesto. This promise has been broken already and with a great degree of speed. I wonder if other promises will be broken. When it is decided to do a U-turn, is any thought given to those who will be most affected by such decisions?

We have become more aware of pensions, including private pension schemes. One of the benefits of the Celtic tiger era was that people could afford to make provision for private pensions. The Minister for Finance told us repeatedly about the good state of pensions. The old age pension is now a smaller percentage of the average industrial wage than in the 1970s. This statistic must cause us to wonder what happened when things were going well. I know that this annoys Senator Cox, in particular.