Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)

I acknowledge that child benefit payments have increased significantly in recent years — the benefit has certainly increased since I was drawing it — and that is welcome. Many organisations that deal with children and poverty will state that child poverty is a problem and should be recognised as such, but I do not believe it is being recognised. It is reprehensible that some of the cuts in this Bill will affect children and families.

There have been reductions in the back to education allowance and the crèche supplement. Why is the Government cutting the allowances being paid to people who are trying to improve their lot? Lone parents are being hindered at every turn as they struggle to improve their circumstances. That is wrong and I ask the Minister to reconsider it. The phasing out of the dietary supplement will affect many people but will save just €1 million, approximately. Why do we try to save small amounts of money in areas that have serious effects on individual lives? There are a number of other cuts, including in the area of rent supplements. This will affect many people. There is a serious housing shortage and people are finding it extremely difficult to obtain their first homes. There are also many who will never aspire to owning a home. Now these people cannot even obtain rent supplement without a further delay.

There are many issues to be discussed and five minutes does not give me enough time to cover all of these, although many have been raised by other speakers. This Bill is an indictment of the Government and will have a serious effect on our society. We will be opposing the Bill.