Frank Fahey (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

A number of issues were raised. The Green Paper on pensions, as mentioned by Senator Terry, will outline the many policy choices and challenges we face in the pensions area. The Green Paper will be finalised in the coming weeks and published thereafter. The Senator asked for information on deferred members of occupational pension schemes who did not qualify for the preservation and revaluation of their pension rights under the Pensions Act. The issue has been discussed by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Social and Family Affairs in the past and the Pensions Board is finalising a survey of occupational pensions with at least 1,000 active members seeking information on their deferred members. The board has received the co-operation of the organisations surveyed and will be in a position to give the results of the survey to the joint committee by the end of the month. The proposals on lone parents are still awaited. On the question of the qualified adult allowance entitlement, the Bill contains provisions to pay the qualified adult allowance of State pensions directly to the qualified adult. It is expected that some 2,000 qualified adults will benefit from this arrangement in 2007 and 6,000 annually thereafter.

On the issues raised by Senator Cox just after I came into the Chamber, there is grave concern in Galway about the condition of the water which must be addressed in a co-ordinated way by the agencies involved, supported by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. I take the point that people are spending huge sums of money on bottled water in Galway and I will bring to the attention of the Minister the points about giving support to people on social welfare. However, the HSE and the city council have been very adamant that water that is boiled is safe to drink and we must accept that as being the case.

Senator Ryan mentioned rent supplement. It is particularly important to protect the State's significant investment in areas of regeneration as well as achieving the objective of sustainable community through regeneration measures. The Minister of State, Deputy Noel Ahern, indicated during the Report Stage debate on this Bill that this provision is to assist local authorities in achieving a social mix. In the past we built vast local authority housing estates and high-rise developments with no social mix. Today the aim of regeneration projects is to provide a mixture of private, social, affordable and voluntary housing. If we were to allow rent supplement for these private units it would undermine the efforts to achieve the desired social mix.

Senator Ryan also raised the issue of child poverty. The Government remains particularly committed to taking swift and decisive action on child poverty. Our policies have resulted in some 100,000 children being lifted from poverty in the past decade, based on the consistent poverty measure. The 2007 budget included an overall package of €240 million in a range of measures to combat child poverty, increasing child benefit by €10 to at least €160 a month, while three levels of child dependant allowances payments have been combined into a new single high-rate qualified child allowance of €22 per week. The budget also detailed significant improvements in the schemes aimed at families, including improvements in the family income supplement, a 50% increase in the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance, further funding for the school meals programme and a higher earnings limit for one-parent families.

Senator Norris spoke about rent supplement. In July 2004 the Government introduced new rental assistance arrangements giving local authorities specific responsibility for meeting the longer-term housing needs of people receiving rent supplement for 18 months or more on a phased implementation basis. The rental assistance arrangements also cater for new applicants for rent supplement and people who have been receiving rent supplement for less than 18 months provided the local authority is satisfied they have long-term housing needs. These people will be eligible for some form of assistance from their local authority under the scheme, whether it is contracted rental accommodation, voluntary housing or a local authority house. When fully operational local authorities will meet the housing needs of these individuals through a range of approaches, including the traditional range of social housing options, the voluntary housing sector and in particular a new public private partnership rental-type accommodation scheme. These arrangements are intended to be long-term housing options for the people concerned.

Senator Bradford spoke about carers and caring. I agree entirely with what he said. An improvement is taking place regarding carers. I will certainly bring his comments to the attention of the Minister. I thank Senators from both sides of the House for their constructive contributions to the debate. Some further issues raised will be replied to directly.