Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

I thank Senators for their kind contributions, to which I will respond. In particular, I thank those who took the time to thank the officials and staff of the Department of Social and Family Affairs. I support the comments that were made in that regard. I assure the House, having worked in six or seven Departments, that the officials with whom I am working at present, who are dealing with difficult matters, are of the highest calibre and courtesy. I share the views expressed by Senators in that regard and thank them for mentioning this aspect of the matter.

I reiterate that the Department of Social and Family Affairs, which has a budget of over €12.2 billion, spends more money than any other Department. Of every €3 that will be spent by the Government next year, almost €1 will be spent by the Department. It is obvious that its services are important for many people. Approximately 970,000 social welfare payments are made every week. Payments have increased by over three times the rate of inflation this year. We need to sustain these achievements into the future.

Senators Terry, Cox, McCarthy, White, Kitt and others spoke about carers. The Joint Committee on Social and Family Affairs produced a report on the position of full-time carers, which stated, "the greatest need identified by family carers is the need for a break from caring, in home respite and respite for the dependent person." Having considered the conclusion seriously, I have announced that a grant of €1,000 will be awarded, for the first time, to all carers who provide full-time care to an older person or a person with a disability, regardless of their means. The grant of €1,000, which will not be means-tested, is a way of recognising widows and other pensioners who may or may not be in receipt of a social welfare payment. Some 33,000 carers will receive the grant of €1,000, regardless of whether they are in receipt of such a payment, in recognition of their role as carers. I have made changes to the respite care grant, which will now be payable in respect of each person for whom the carer is caring. We have altered the various thresholds to include additional people. The capital assessment sum has been increased from approximately €12,000 to €20,000 to allow extra people to be taken into the scheme.

Many Senators asked me to abolish the means test for carers, which would cost approximately €160 million. We should acknowledge that there are different opinions on the matter — I do not consider that the abolition of the means test for carers is warranted. If I had €160 million, I would use it to focus on areas in which it is needed. I would not use it to remove everybody from the means test, as that would be too crude. If we get to a point where we can afford it, we will focus the funds on those whose means have demonstrated that they require the funds. That would be a better use of such moneys. The carers' package, which is worth approximately €40 million, is the most significant that has been produced for many years. I remind the House that the €1,000 grant will be given to all carers, including widows who have made a special case for the recognition of their care, and not just to carers who are in receipt of carer's allowance at present. We may be in a position to give a top-up of some sort to widows in the future, but for the moment the grant of €1,000 is an immediate way of recognising what they do.

A number of Senators spoke about rent supplement. I confirm that I have abolished the six-month rule in favour of an assessment by the housing authority. If the authority is of the view that one is in immediate need of accommodation, one will get rent supplement. That is a fair way to do it. One used to be deemed ineligible for rent supplement after one had rejected two offers of accommodation, but I have changed that provision so that one can turn down a housing offer three times and still be eligible for rent allowance. That is very reasonable.

Many Senators referred to family income supplement, which is given to 14,600 families who receive an average payment of €72.19 each week. The Minister for Finance announced in the budget that the threshold for the benefit will be increased by €39 this year. This will result in a weekly increase of €23.40 for almost all families eligible to receive the supplement and it will enable 2,500 more families to become eligible. The tax system is not capable of identifying automatically the householders who are entitled to it but we are working on this.

The one-parent family transitional half-rate payment was mentioned by Senator Terry. Some 7,000 one-parent families are expected to benefit from the new six-month transition payment. I take the Senator's point that I did not make complete changes to some of the schemes. I amended them as I saw fit. In this case, I am satisfied that a six-month transitional payment is adequate. When a lone parent begins to work, the overlap is accounted for. A lone parent can now earn up to €293 per week and still be entitled to some element of the benefit.

The back to education allowance was discussed in the Dáil in recent days, including during Question Time today. In the budget package, I changed the qualifying period for the back to education third level option from 15 months to 12 months, which is costing €2.5 million this year. I stated in the Dáil that I would examine whether the qualifying period could, in the coming months, be reduced further to nine months, and I will do this. It is not very urgent because the academic year usually begins in September. Once we have made a firm decision by then, we will be all right. The qualifying period for entry into second level education has not been affected and remains at six months. We increased the grant pertaining to the back to education allowance from €254 to €400.

What informs my decisions in all these matters is my desire to make it easy to make the transition between unemployment and work, or unemployment and education. The transition should be seamless. Much work has been done in this area, as Senator Daly stated. However, I would like to do more to ensure that individuals are not locked in a welfare trap such that they would not benefit much if they took up employment or would not benefit at all if they went back to education. I need to remove those traps and am working on this.

Many Senators referred to child benefit. Senator Cox shared my view that child benefit is not the answer to child care. Some 520,000 families are receiving child benefit in respect of over 1 million children. The allocation for this year is €1.9 billion, representing an increase of €136 million. The child benefit is a very important income for the recipients. It is clear from the fact that no Government has increased the child dependant allowance since 1994 that a view has been formed by successive Governments that child benefit is a better way to direct the funds towards children. That there is almost €2 billion being allocated to 520,000 families means the scheme is having an impact. However, it is not the answer to child care because child care is a multidepartmental, multifaceted issue involving matters of supply and taxation and various other measures. Societal change is a factor in child care, and child benefit, or the children's allowance, as it used to be called, was not meant to deal with it. The involvement of the State in child care is partly a 21st century phenomenon.