Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I welcome the opportunity to discuss the Bill. The budgetary provisions are also welcome but it is important we put them in context.

In many ways the Minister is in a great position in that he has had a tremendous innings in Government with ten years of prosperity. The Government has rightly invested in social welfare. In doing that, however, we have increased the vulnerability of some sections of the population. The Minister will not agree with me but there is a growing divide between different sections of society. We have created a new type of poverty for young families in terms of child care, housing costs and the inability of local authorities to meet affordable housing demands or to provide social housing.

Senator McDonald referred to the Health Service Executive and respite care beds. I tabled a motion on the Adjournment last week on this issue. We cannot keep blaming the HSE. It was set up by Government but it is no longer accountable to anyone. We all have to address this political fault.

The Minister referred to the national carers' strategy. I wish to give every possible enhancement to the role of the carer in society. Carers play a key role in the community, caring for and putting people first, which is something we all should do. They are people centred. I welcome the Minister's decision to devise a national carers' strategy. The report on this matter was due a long time ago. The Minister indicated the report would be available mid-year, which is an ambiguous term. I respect the Minister and I hope we will have the report of the working group on the national carers' strategy because it is important. Many people involved in caring believe they will never see a national carers' strategy. Our party espouses a one-stop-shop approach. I will not go through all the different measures regarding carers but we need to underpin the work they do.

I urge the Minister to discuss a national waiver scheme for people on social welfare who pay a refuse collection charge. In many cases private operators undercut the price for refuse collection charged by local authorities. In five or seven years many local authorities will have privatised the collection of municipal waste. As the Minister is aware, when competition is introduced and the local authority no longer has a role in refuse collection the company with that job can do whatever it wants.

Senator McFadden was correct to state that poverty remains part of society. When one looks around any city or town one sees people who are homeless, begging and living in poor conditions. This is unacceptable. We are a rich society and the divide between rich and poor, which should not exist, is growing. The reality of the budget increases for many citizens is that they are gone before they get them owing to increases in the cost of heating, lighting, groceries etc.

Last week in the Dáil Deputy Olwyn Enright and today Senator Nicky McFadden revealed that one in nine children lives in consistent poverty. We must support our families. We must give the necessary structural support to our young families who travel longer distances, wait longer in traffic, pay inordinate child care costs and are put to the pins of their collars to pay mortgages. One of the best ways to enhance families is through child care and social welfare.

What is the aim of the provision of social welfare? What do we mean to do with it? Is it to support people, enhance their lives or get them out of poverty? I sometimes wonder if it benefits those who need it most. People have become more marginalised. In all our clinics we meet people under pressure who feel they are not being looked after properly. Nowhere is this greater than the private rental sector and, within that, the living conditions of some of our citizens. Last week I visited a bed-sit in Cork city. As I am in Parliament the strongest words I will use to describe it are "absolute squalor". We force people to live in these primitive, inadequate and horrible conditions.

Senator McDonald spoke on interdepartmental connectivity and the need for co-operation, and she is correct. I ask the Department of Social and Family Affairs, the HSE and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to work with the Private Residential Tenancies Board to ensure we have proper, effective regulation and accountability in the private rented sector. Senator Prendergast referred to the level of required payment of rent supplement. We need to have all landlords registered with the PRTB as a matter of course. When people get grants for education in vocational education committees, it is a requirement that their landlords be registered. We must ensure all landlords and tenants are protected.

In many cases rent must be paid in advance while the Department pays rent allowance in arrears. This leaves those in receipt of rent allowance at a disadvantage. They cannot compete on a level playing pitch because landlords will not accept rent in arrears. We must address this fundamental issue. A landlord will always choose a tenant who can pay up front rather than somebody who might struggle to make payments. That puts many tenants, many of them single people and single parents, at an unfair disadvantage. I ask the Minister to examine that. The state of rented accommodation must be examined.

Single men are at a disadvantage in society. I am not being sexist. Young single men are discriminated against by social welfare and local authorities in the provision of housing and are being put into any old hovel. I am sure the Minister can relate to this in his city of Waterford. If not, I hope he comes to Cork to rectify that. I have met two or three young men in my clinics in recent weeks, genuine guys, some of whom are down on their luck and perhaps in trouble with alcohol, who want to make amends in their lives and who live in wholly inadequate bed-sits. We must cater for single men between the ages of 20 and 40 who are being discriminated against and who need to be looked after.

The increases in the 2008 budget will have a minimal impact on poverty and the growing divide. I do not mean this in a political way, although the Minister will take it as a political statement. This Government's legacy will be a growing marginalisation of people in society, which should not occur.