Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)

Ba mhaith liom fáilte a chuir roimh an Aire. Táim lán-sásta tacú leis na focail deasa a dúradh mar gheall ar an iar-Aire, an tUasal Séamus Ó Braonáin, ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

There is one startling statistic that stands out and is the backdrop to much of the discussion today, namely, the 33% increase in the use of MABS this year. While it is a startling statistic, it is not a surprising one because it underscores not only the gravity of our economic situation but also its impact on real people.

It behoves us to urge the Minister and behoves the Minister to urge the Cabinet to ensure we will not attempt to correct the economic ills of the country on the backs of the weak, the poor and the less vocal and powerful in our society. I said consistently on the Order of Business over the year, and the Leas-Chathaoirleach will be aware of this, that we should never attempt to solve on the backs of the weak the problems created by other people. It is a point well made by my colleague, Senator McFadden, when she said we must not make budgetary corrections. It must be done at the expense of those who were more complicit than the weak and vulnerable in society in creating the problems of today. How we address this will be the ultimate moral test of this Government and Parliament. It is not only a moral imperative but might be also something more fundamental if we want to prevent social revolution and trouble in society. We must be seen to do this justly and equitably and not damage the weak.

I am a great believer in MABS. It was well put by Senator Boyle when he stated that one could not have designed a better service for the time. It is fortuitous that it is in place. It is a great and necessary service. God help the people who need it. We should be sensitive about it.

I wish to pay tribute to Ms Anne McKernan. She was the public face of MABS in my county for many years and remains a major player there. She did tremendous work in Cavan and was a great human face for the service. She was a pioneer in this area and I acknowledge and commend her work in the presence of the Minister.

Money management is a major issue. It brings the issue of interest rates into focus. There is an imperative on the banks to bring forward to consumers the recent 0.5% interest rate cut.

I also pay tribute to the credit union movement. The Minister mentioned it was closely linked to MABS. The credit union movement has done huge work through the years in my town of Bailieborough and throughout the country. We have tremendous examples of credit unions working very well.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul has also worked closely with MABS. No one could ever pay proper tribute to it. We often mention heroes and celebrate the heroes of the War of Independence but the silent living patriots of our country have been the great army of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

Points were well made on illegal moneylending. It is right to acknowledge what has been achieved in that area. Illegal moneylenders have been huge abusers of people, especially women and those on social welfare. It was dreadful on children's allowance day.

In that context, I read alarming reports in the Sunday newspapers of the elimination of children's allowance or the means-testing of it for the better-off. On the face of it, that may seem equitable and we must do equitable things in the budget. That said and while it may not be politically correct to say, where there is a difficult home, a negligent father or problems in the home, the children's allowance has traditionally been the great standby for a woman. In most instances, it is the woman in the house who has come to the fore, has had to go into the breach, hold the home together and try to feed the children. The children's allowance has been of huge significance and remains so. It has been the money that has gone to the children. For that reason, we should not tamper with it. It has been sacrosanct and has been left to the carer. There have been cases where it has been the male in the family who has been the carer — we know of such cases although, unfortunately, the opposite is generally the case — and again the children's allowance has provided a source of income to ensure children at least get food and basic clothing. We can talk about new-found wealth but there are many homes where this remains an issue.

I commend to the Minister the view, to which she referred, that we look at public education to teach budgeting. The Minister, as a former Minister for Education and Science and teacher, is au fait with social, personal and health education. The SPHE programme in schools should be used as a vehicle to prepare people for budgeting.

Senator Brady made an interesting contribution in that he made a critical analysis of how the services are being delivered. That is worthwhile because it is something we want to keep improving. He referred to the one-stop-shop for services such as family law. There is great merit in that approach and, tragically, the services are all linked, as many of the people who have recourse to citizens' advice also require family legal aid and possibly budgetary services, although that is not always the case. We should be careful not to have all the services on the one corridor because there are issues of sensitivity involved. One might have a person going in to MABS who might not want other people seeing them and, likewise, a person accessing legal aid services because of a family dispute might not want to be seen there. While there is merit in having a one-stop-shop approach those issues must be sensitively handled. There are great distinctions between the various services and they would have to be maintained.

MABS does an excellent job. It is a necessary service and we commend it on its work. I support the idea of a national supervisor to examine opening times, availability and to carry out an ongoing critical appraisal. It behoves us to say that next week this country should not attempt to correct the sins of the past on the backs of those who had no part in creating the problem and who, tragically, have only a marginal say in society.