Michael Kitt (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister to the House and thank him for his fine speech. I also thank Senator O'Meara for speaking at such length. I welcome this Bill, running through which the common theme is reform. Since taking office, the Minister has signalled a number of new areas in which he is interested, one of which is pensions, to which I will return later. In the last budget, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, discussed extending the SSIA scheme to promote pensions for people on low income, which I welcome.

The Minister referred to poverty traps and the need to meet targets that have existed since the Government came to power. He has targeted a pension of €200 since he took office. I welcome the provisions on income disregards, which will be appreciated by many people, particularly carers. The disregard has risen from €270 to €290 for a single person and from €540 to €580 for a married couple. Increasing numbers of people now qualify for that allowance. As with family income supplement, to which Senator O'Meara referred, people often feel they are not entitled to it. Upon making an application they are pleasantly surprised and find the income disregard a great help.

The increase in the respite care grant of €200, bringing it to €1,200 for each recipient, is also welcome. There seem to be major differences in subventions for elderly people in nursing homes throughout the country. The health boards used to review the situation and I now hope the Health Service Executive does so, because €1,200 is not as useful for respite in a nursing home in some parts of the country as in others. As the Minister will be aware, Galway does not have the same building costs as parts of the midlands or even rural parts of Dublin.

Carer's benefit also needs to be promoted. The Minister stated in his speech on the budget, as did the Minister for Finance, that the benefit will, from May 2006, be payable for up to two years, an increase of nine months. The scheme has helped many people who have given up work to provide care. It is a simple scheme in comparison to other schemes involving benefits and needs to be promoted, though many are now aware of it.

The increase in fuel allowance of €5 per week to €14 is very welcome. The weather has been very cold in the past few weeks. Indeed, it was reported to be the coldest St. Patrick's Day for 100 years.