Lisa McDonald (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to comment on this generous package of measures, which represents nearly half of all additional Government spending in the budget this year and brings spending on social welfare to nearly €17 billion. That is a long way from where we were ten or 15 years ago. The Government has again underlined its commitment to improving the position of those less well off in our society. The Bill introduces a number of key improvements in the area of social welfare, including increases in child benefit, early child care supplement and the respite care grant.

We are entering a period of below-trend growth in which matters are not as clear as they were a couple of years ago, not just in Ireland but globally. Our first priority has to be to ensure the vulnerable within our society are protected. Budget 2008 provided significant resources to allow us to address the needs of those most disadvantaged and a number of these increases are provided for in this Bill. The approach taken by the Minister in recent years has enabled us as a society to deliver significant improvements for people on low incomes. This continues to be the best way for us to deliver natural social welfare enhancements in a sustainable way. The key to this is sustainability. We must ensure into the future that whatever measures we introduce work for the people who must access our welfare system.

In line with this overall approach, the improvements in social welfare benefits and, in particular, child care payments provided for in the 2008 budget amount to an additional €957 million in 2008 and €980 million in a full year. The Government has increased significantly financial support for children in recent years. It intends to continue to do so by increasing child benefit and the early child care supplement which has been very successful. Section 3 provides for these increases.

The Bill goes some way also towards reforming income support for children to reduce work disincentives by making income support less relevant to the employment status of the parent. This has been a significant issue, especially for lone parents. Welfare increases should not act as a barrier or disincentive to any parent who wishes to take up a chance of employment, training or education. As we are aware, this policy has formed an important part of social partnership agreements. We must maintain the balance between tackling child poverty and encouraging and assisting families to access education, training and employment opportunities.

Supporting lone parents is once again a key priority of this legislation. The increase in the upper earning limits for the one-parent family payment will help those people to access work and training that fits in with their responsibility as parents, which is in the interests of the children as well as the parents. It also offers the best way out of the very difficult position in which people sometimes find themselves. I see this daily at advice centres. I am sure the same is true of Senator Prendergast and others.

I am told that young parents, especially in inner city areas and predominantly though not exclusively women, have difficulty in accessing any kind of training or employment opportunities solely because they would lose the benefits they have gained as part of the support system for lone parents. This is a significant worry for young people who find themselves in that position. The changes made in this legislation will help to tackle this aspect of the matter. For these measures to work, we need co-operation between a number of agencies and Departments. I look forward to the results of the pilot projects under way in Coolock in Dublin and Kilkenny, which were mentioned by the Minister.

Sections 6 and 7 relate to transfers. For many years, particularly in respect of the Department of Social and Family Affairs but also in other Departments, the issue always arose of whether people were getting their entitlements and if they would be entitled to an increase in the event of a change to a different payment. Under section 6, a person transferring back to illness benefit from invalidity pension will be entitled to a full personal rate of illness benefit, assuming he or she has the required number of contributions in the relevant tax year. Section 7 provides that a person moving from disability allowance to a State pension at age 66 will not receive a lower rate of payment. Again, the emphasis is put on providing the maximum amount of payment to which a person is entitled.

There has been much discussion of carers in recent years. The Government has recognised, and continues to recognise, the significant contribution to society made by carers and this is evident in the increase in carer's allowance and carer's benefit. The respite care grant was increased last year from €1,200 to €1,500. Section 9 further increases it by an additional €200 to €1,700, as announced in the budget. This measure will benefit approximately 48,200 carers this summer and underpins our commitment under the partnership agreement, Towards 2016, and the programme for Government.

Simply to have a day off or a one or two-week holiday can make a significant difference to people who care for parents or children. In some cases, this can be a decisive factor at a time when a person has to make a choice to put his or her family member into some kind of supported medical facility or to care for him or her at home. The respite care grant has proven its worth over the years. The changes made last year are welcome but we need to examine the manner in which the respite care grant is administered because there are long waiting lists and difficulties in that regard. In one case I dealt with I was told the person who was entitled to the respite grant would have to go on a waiting list. Some of the Health Service Executive administrative practices need to be examined.