Ann Ormonde (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister to the House and congratulate the Government on the progress made to date. The Government will spend more than €12 billion on welfare entitlements, double the figure of only four years ago. For every €3 of taxpayers' money spent by the State in 2005, €1 will go to welfare support. This year, welfare benefits and vital supports have increased by three times the rate of inflation. Since 1997, all the main benefits have increased by at least twice the rate of inflation. Every week, almost 1 million welfare payments are made to 1.5 million men, women and children. Child benefit has increased fourfold in ten years. Almost 550,000 people on the lower welfare rates have received a sizable lift. The respite grant has been increased and extended, benefiting 30,000 carers. The Government is committed to increasing the State pension to €200 by 2007 and to increasing the lowest welfare rates to €150 by 2007. The Government is currently working on pensions, an issue I have often discussed with the Minister and to which he will refer when responding to the motion.

It is useful that we are having this debate today instead of after the budget when discussing the Social Welfare Bill. I do not have in-depth knowledge about how the system works. The Department of Social and Family Affairs operates a cumbersome system and its administration is difficult for me to understand. I have to read and re-read some of the legislation passed dealing with the respite grants offered. That is not to say that great work is not being done but the Department is not connecting with the public. The Minister referred to that himself and it is important in the modernisation of the structure and the implementation of benefits that will arise. The system should be simplified to allow the public to get on with commending the Government on its work to date.

The motion refers to personal pension entitlement for pensioners' spouses. I commend the Government on that concept; it is good that we should introduce it. The Government has introduced measures to extend the level of social protection and enhance social inclusion through the social insurance system and that is also very good — more people will have access to social welfare benefits.

Child benefit has improved. It is now paid to the mother or primary carer for the benefit of the child. Child benefit delivers a standard rate of payment in respect of all children in a family regardless of income levels or employment status without any PRSI conditions and it is not means tested or taxed.

The Minister should consider giving people the option of staying at home to mind their children. If I had my choice, that is where I would be putting emphasis. I would love to see women who want to stay at home being able to reach an arrangement with their employers where they could retain their career prospects when they decide to return to the workforce after four years. Child care must be more than that but I would like to see the Government making it easy for a mother to stay at home if she thought she could return to the workforce. That is where I would like to see children — in their own environment, rather than in crèches, which I have seen and am not happy with.

There are anomalies in administration and implementation. There are women who had to leave the public service because of the marriage ban. Many of them have not had their cases addressed and the Minister should examine this area.

I commend the Minister on the work he is doing. He has a grasp of this area, develops concepts clearly and delivers on them. I wish the Minister well in the budget. He has an important role because a great deal of money is allocated to his Department and it is only with the expertise of the Minister can we bring about a system that will be understood by the public at large.