Margaret Cox (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to discuss the social welfare package announced recently. I am approaching my tenth year as a Senator and in one of the first debates in which I participated I spoke before the then Minister about the single payment issue. As increases were made and additional benefits were provided for carers, it became increasingly difficult to provide a justification for people being unable to get two payments from the Department of Social and Family Affairs.

Today the Minister acknowledged that the rule had resulted in inequality and discrimination against carers generally and particularly women, given that it tends to be women who take on the caring role. I am amazed and delighted the Minister has taken on board the points we made and our pleas that this be examined. I welcome the change he has introduced, whereby people providing full-time care will be able to retain their main welfare payment and receive another payment equivalent to up to half the rate of the carer's allowance. That reform is long awaited and is most important. The Minister can be justifiably proud of it. It is one of the most significant changes in social welfare for many years.

We all agree it is marvellous to see the old age pension increased to the current levels. More than anybody, the Minister accepts that the cost of living is increasing daily such that these annual increases are being eroded. An increase in an allowance or pension that we might expect to mean an extra €10, €15 or €20 in our pockets, is actually a reduction. Although we must recognise and acknowledge that it is still more money, it is not enough. Until we do something that caps the cost of electricity, gas, heating or telephone bills and the 21% additional VAT charge on top of the increase, we are fooling ourselves if we believe we are making a significant difference to the lives of our pensioners and people on social welfare. Perhaps we need to examine reform in this area. Where there are instances of charges under the control of the State or State regulators we can do something about the impact they have on the older and most vulnerable people in our society. I commend the Minister who, in his past number of years in this portfolio, has made a significant difference, and the Government which has delivered on its commitments. However, is it making a significant difference to the lives of old age pensioners and those on the margins of society?

I commend the Minister's focus on poorer children. The €10 increase per month per child in child benefit is welcome. The increase in the weekly payment focuses on the families of poorer children, which I commend. It deals with the issue and the worry we had about taxation and child benefit. However, there are many people in that middle group, low-income earners, who are just out of the family income supplement net. This is middle Ireland, the Pope's children as they are called on television. These are the people living in Knocknacarra, Renmore, Doughiska and Merlin Park. They are all buying their own houses; paying large mortgages as first and second-time buyers; paying stamp duty to the Government on family homes, with which I disagree; paying child care costs because both parents are in work; and paying car loans and other expenses. We are not addressing that large group of ordinary, everyday people.

These are the people sitting in their cars for 40 to 45 minutes to get home in the evening, who have to take the dinner out of the fridge, put it in the oven, heat it, do homework, prepare clothes for school the next day, pack lunches and prepare bottles for babies. We forget about these people. We must do something about them to address not child poverty in the material sense of not having enough food to eat, but child poverty in the sense of family time, quality of life and the opportunity to live their lives as I did, in a warm, loving family with clear expectations. We must not forget about them.

While I welcome the child benefit increase as the method we have chosen to address child care costs, and the annual child care supplement of €1,000 for children under the age of six, which is something to be proud of, we must remember there is a bigger group of people for whom, as Senator Terry said, the cost of child care is a major issue. If we forget this we do so at our peril. As we look to the future and our manifestos, I suggest the child care supplement be paid for children under the age of seven. Children aged four, five or six come out of school at 12.30 p.m. If one is working the children must go somewhere from 12.30 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. Most children do not go into first class until they are at least seven, unless they started school early. We need to consider such people because providing child care for those children is as costly as for those under the age of six. Perhaps we could examine moving that forward a little in the budget for the future.

On the subject of social welfare disadvantage, I spoke about the back to school allowances at the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting in Cavan in September. The following is an estimate of the costs for a 12 or 13 year old child going to secondary school for the first time, based on buying in Dunnes Stores rather than the most expensive shops: pair of shoes, €50; pair of runners, €50; school jumper with a crest, €45; two school shirts, €20 each; and an ordinary Dunnes or Penneys jacket for walking or cycling to school, not a €180 Nike or Tommy Hilfiger jacket, €50. All that adds up to more than €285 for the 12-22 year olds. That €285 clothing allowance is given to those in receipt of social welfare.

I return to the people in places like Knocknacarra and Renmore who send children back to school. My mother used to save the child benefit in June, July and August to buy our school uniforms for September. We save our child benefit to buy school uniforms. We must examine this. Many people who are not on social welfare have little disposable income but want to give their children the best. I appeal to the Minister to examine this issue to see if there is anything we can do for this group, whether by way of additional means testing, income disregards or otherwise.

I commend the Government, the Taoiseach, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, and the Minister for Social and Family Affairs on the increase to 26 weeks in paid maternity benefit. It is incredible to think that we will have that in this country, as well as the additional unpaid leave. Now that we have crossed that hurdle and made that commitment to families under our Constitution, the challenge for the Minister as he leaves his Department is to make a universal parental leave payment. He should begin with four weeks, increase it to six weeks and give it to one or other parent but not both. If we love our children and believe in looking after society we must begin somewhere.

Where do people think these gangland shootings come from? They come from the fact that we are not in a position to look after our children properly. We allow children, particularly in disadvantaged areas but throughout the country, to miss the opportunity of the care and nurturing of a parent at home, be it the mother or the father. I spoke to a woman who is returning to work next February after seven months off with her second baby. When I asked her what it was like she said it was incredible to look after the baby at home and to know that when she returns to work the baby will be seven months old. One could say it is half reared, although that is not the case, but it is better than putting it into a crèche at the age of three or four months. My vision of Ireland is that if somebody chooses to have a baby, the mother or father will stay at home with that child supported by the State until the child is one year old. I plead with the Minister, as I plead with my political party, that this must be a priority for us.

As a result of the changes we have seen in social welfare payments, I get the feeling the Minister listens to us. Therefore, I will speak about rent allowance. I hate to see the amount of rent allowance paid every week to private individuals who own houses. It profits the property developers and investors, who may not even pay tax on those phenomenal amounts of money over the €100,000 where the 0.5% tax we are putting on for the health levy makes no impact. We must reform rent allowance. There must be a way of working with the local authority and the social welfare system so that the State does not subsidise the provision of rental accommodation to the profit of private investors. That money is disappearing into a black hole and we must do something about this. Last year I suggested a pilot scheme.

I congratulate the Minister on the budget. I do not normally offer unqualified congratulations to any Minister but the changes made to child benefit, maternity leave, €1,000 payment and allowing those on carer's benefit to receive the half-rate carer's allowance and the main welfare payment are measures of which the Minister can be proud. I commend the Bill to the House.