Joe McHugh (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister to the House and I congratulate him on his new portfolio. I welcome his comments made on his appointment that he would have a more caring approach to social welfare. I hope that can be backed up with action. I have no doubt the Minister will deliver.

Every year the public is faced with many changes following the budget. The usual hit list includes increases in pensions and social welfare, which are always to the fore. How can someone in Opposition oppose increases in old-age pensions? I come from a very rural area and many old-age pensioners find themselves having to help their grandchildren pay their way at college. While pensioners are well looked after, much of the money going to old-age pensioners is going back into the system as parents find it very difficult to maintain their children at college. At one level it is good that pensioners can hand back this money, it is also a marker with respect to the pressure on parents with children in third-level education.

Child care is a major issue on which we have yet to grasp the nettle. I recently met a group from Donegal comprising women, primarily single women, with children. They do not simply need child care to allow them access to education. It is not just about getting back to education to get a qualification to allow them to enter or re-enter the job market. They need child care to allow them carry out simple tasks like going to the shop or to the doctor for a check-up. The issues raised at that meeting were child care and education. The focus has been somewhat lost. Education will not necessarily improve the way of life mean for a woman who has been in the home rearing her children on her own. It is simple basic issues such as being in a position to go shopping, to go for a social drink with their friends at least once a month or to visit their GPs for a check-up. That is the position at the margins as regards child care. There is also the issue of young couples, both of whom have to work and who are obliged to pay astronomical amounts of money in child care costs.

The back to education allowance used to last for 15 months but this has been reduced to 12 months. The allowance is welcome but I have been approached in recent weeks by many people working in low-skilled areas who have low to marginal incomes, who want to continue to work, who are not redundant or on unemployment assistance and who want to return to education in order to better themselves and obtain qualifications so they can improve their quality of life. The position regarding the back to education allowance must be reconsidered in respect of the many people on the margins and on low incomes who are interested in returning to education.

During the term of office of the Minister's predecessor, Deputy Coughlan, there was a great deal of bad feeling about the more radical issues that were grappled with such as widows' pensions, etc. It is not a question of disaffecting vast groups of people who are already in receipt of certain entitlements. I hope the Minister's actions will measure up to the comments he made shortly after his appointment to his new portfolio.

It is easy to label social welfare recipients and to knock those who it is felt should not be getting handouts. Greater provision should be made in terms of linking social welfare recipients and education providers and industry by means of a system which will ensure that people do not merely receive handouts. I am aware that there are many who are not in a position to work or to avail of work. There should be increased contact with social welfare recipients to inform them, for example, about educational programmes to which they might gain entry. Many social welfare recipients are obliged, for one reason or another, to remain at home. It is important that we make provision for such people, even if it is by means of allowing them to avail of e-learning programmes offered by VECs, FÁS centres or higher education institutions. Every effort should be made to help these people.

There should be more one-to-one contact with social welfare recipients. Given our bureaucratic system, there is no doubt that we have the personnel to facilitate this. It would not necessarily need to be people in citizens' advice centres or those who work in social welfare offices who offered their services in this regard. We must take a multi-agency approach which would include input from the VECs, FÁS and employers groups such as IBEC, etc., and which would cater for the needs of every social welfare recipient. People are falling through the net. There are those in receipt of social welfare payments on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis who are finding it increasingly difficult to re-enter the mainstream. Facilitating them in this regard could be as simple as getting them involved in personal development or motivational courses.

I do not believe that anybody in receipt of social welfare payments wants to continue to receive them. The Minister does not need me to tell him that. Using a multi-agency approach and empowering people who are in receipt of payments will reduce the numbers of those on social welfare.