John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister and largely welcome the Bill. To take up Senator Kitt's last point, I also welcome the Minister's launch yesterday of a discussion document regarding proposals for supporting lone parents. Going by the reports I read in today's newspapers and heard in yesterday's media, I will fully support the Minister in his endeavours to introduce reform in this sector. On the whole, it is fair to say that he is one of the more successful members of the Government. Despite being a somewhat reluctant occupant of his current position, he has managed to introduce a number of reforms in the social welfare area.

The Bill is a positive step and many positive proposals are contained therein although I have some bugbears concerning a number of areas. In my time in politics, one group with which I have had a lot of contact — as have all politicians — is carers. I regret that the Government has not done enough for people who provide the vital service of caring for family members in their homes rather than putting them in institutions and have saved the country vast amounts of money. I urge the Minister to examine a way of tackling this issue. Whatever about abolishing the means test, the thresholds should be drastically extended. Regarding the costs of lifting the thresholds vis-À-vis the benefits of looking after family members in their homes for as long as possible, it is clear that carers have not been adequately catered for. It is a sector that the State should support more than it has heretofore.

Spouses of self-employed persons are referred to in the Bill. Coming from a rural area, this brings to mind farmers' wives, to whom Senator Kitt referred. Due to their husbands' work, they have serious difficulties with regard to pension provisions. This issue, which not only includes farmers or people working in agriculture but everybody involved in self-employment of one shape or another, affects a whole group of people who do not have adequate pension provision and will be in an invidious position in their elder years unless the matter is addressed. I also agree with Senator Kitt's comment on pension provisions for councillors. It is not an issue I will discuss today but the Senator spoke about how public representatives in local authorities throughout the country indicated their desire to be able to pay into a fund that would provide pensions for their retirement. The Government could usefully examine this matter.

Senator Quinn spoke about making it compulsory for people to pay into pension funds, which is a matter the Minister raised previously. Everybody already pays into a pension fund in the shape of the PRSI system. A case may be made for increasing PRSI contributions and ensuring that the increases go directly to the provision of increased pensions in the future. The problem with many of the new pension schemes being put in place is that the fat cats are getting their hands on people's money and, when people investigate, they discover that their pension entitlements are considerably different from what they were led to believe would be the case.

I do not favour Government backing for every type of scheme but, when it comes to pension provisions, I would be more satisfied if I knew that the type of reform envisaged and any possible compulsory element would be done under the auspices of the Government, perhaps through the PRSI system or a new system rather than hiving off the matter to the private sector. There are many difficulties in that issue in respect of future pension provisions.

Following Senator Quinn's remarks, another issue brought to my attention is that in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, a number of people were compelled to participate in pension schemes in the companies in which they then worked. I am not generally in favour of compelling people to pay into pension schemes as it should remain a fundamentally voluntary process, but if the Minister is looking to make provision for the future, he should examine a serious reform of the current PRSI system and use it as a mechanism to bring about such an event.

I will refer to the early child care supplement provision of €1,000 announced in this year's budget. As Fine Gael's finance spokesperson, I welcomed it on the day as it was and is a positive step. However, it is only a step. A payment of some €1,000 is a drop in the ocean compared with the costs of child care. If we are to provide child care support to families this figure must be increased.

I have received many representations from those with children older than five years. Such children do not qualify for the early child care supplement yet the parents have child care needs. They may finish work at 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. but their children finish school at 3 p.m. The task of minding these children entails a few hours per day and while those involved in full-time, permanent child care can make a living from their work it is difficult to find someone to undertake such work in a part-time capacity. If the Minister seeks to extend the early child care supplement or introduce new initiatives he should consider children in school who need child care between the time the child finishes school for the day and the time parents finish work.

Although it is very seldom that I praise members of the Cabinet, I welcome the Bill and the Minister's initiatives, which take steps in the right direction.