Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)

I will try to elaborate on why I believe the gap has widened between the haves and the have-nots.

I accept the Minister for Social and Family Affairs will make his announcement in regard to social welfare benefits on budget day so we cannot comment on that today. This is in stark contrast to what happened last year in regard to the Estimates when the Minister announced the introduction of reviewed and adjusted schemes which subsequently became known as the "savage 16" cuts. That is one of the more important aspects of the Estimates which has been overlooked. I hope the Minister will reverse those cuts on budget day but we have not been given any indication that this will be the case. I urge the Minister of State to make representations to him that those cuts should be reversed as they affected the most vulnerable in society. They did not affect the well-off but those who are less able to help themselves.

The national anti-poverty strategy states that people are living in poverty if their income and resources — material, cultural and social — are so inadequate as to preclude them from having a standard of living that is regarded as acceptable by Irish society generally. Our society should be judged on how we look after our elderly, our children and people with disabilities. These people are not being adequately looked after in many respects. I acknowledge that old age pensions and child benefit have increased in recent years but at least 66,000 children still live in consistent poverty and 237,000 live in households with incomes below the poverty line. We also have households headed by people who are ill or disabled and which have a relatively high risk of consistent poverty. Where a household is headed by someone who is unemployed, the risk to that family is far greater than a family whose head has a job.

The poverty risk for single adult households has also become an increasing trend in Ireland. This mainly comprises single adults living alone, a high proportion of whom are women. Another area in which the gap has widened is the increasing number of people on housing waiting lists in every local authority area. There are currently more than 50,000 households on waiting lists for social housing in a year in which only 315 social houses were built. When will we ever catch up and provide some hope for such people? The Government looks after the wealthy and is encouraged not to tamper with the tax code for people on the lower rate.

A Combat Poverty Agency study in 2001 showed that there is a link between low income poverty and ill health. Two thirds of 30 families in the study had some health problems. People affected by ill health are more likely to live on a low income because they were unable to gain employment or because their employment experiences were likely to be sporadic due to ill health. Stress, isolation and depression were induced by lack of money. Inadequate income made a healthy diet difficult. To find people living in deprived communities, I need only look to west Dublin to see how deprivation and disadvantage has had an effect on a community. The Government is doing little to tackle such difficulties and the problems are increasing on a weekly basis.

If these savage cuts are not reversed this year, it will be a dreadful indictment of the Government. The back to education allowance has more or less been abolished at third level, saving just €2.2 million. The conditions for the rent supplement scheme were severely curtailed and restricted. Many of us have read the report by CentreCare, the agency which deals with the homeless, which outlines the severe impact these cuts are having on homeless people. Restricting people from rent allowance by ensuring that they are resident in rented property for six months before they can receive it is outrageous. Families need rent supplement in the first place. How can they possibly afford to live in rented accommodation and pay full rent if they are in need of rent supplement? I ask that this cut be reversed.

The crèche supplement for child care was another dreadful cut, particularly given that we are trying to encourage young parents, particularly young mothers, to get back into education. They know the only way out of poverty is through education and employment. Surely, our job is to encourage such people to go back to work and give them whatever assistance we can, but cutting their benefits is doing nothing to assist people in the lowest income group.

The earnings threshold for disability and unemployment benefit was to increase from €88.88 to €150 per week and, as a consequence, increase the thresholds for the three bands used for the purposes of these graduated rates. This measure is, in effect, an adjustment of the threshold in line with inflation. The gross savings were estimated at €14.3 million, with 10,300 people affected. Other cuts included the dietary supplement, the half rate child dependant allowance and others of which the Minister of State is well aware.

The money to be invested in the equality area as outlined in the Estimates is inadequate. Crime against women in the first half of 2004 has seen a percentage increase compared with the first half of 2003. The rape of females increased by 27%, rape under section 4 increased by 22% and aggravated sexual assault increased by 175%. This demonstrates a worrying trend in crime against women. However, very little funding is being given to the organisations involved in tackling crime against women and domestic violence.

Senators will have heard that Women's Aid was unable to respond to a large percentage of its telephone calls because of lack of resources, leading to people in the office being unable to take calls. An increase of 1% is being given to the Equality Authority, 3% to the National Women's Council, 2% for equality proofing, 3% for gender mainstreaming and 3% for the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism. If we are depending on the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, we will wait for a very long time before we see equality in our society. Not only does it not come second on the list of priorities, it does not even come third, fourth or fifth.