Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

I point to another issue, the welfare of children. We will discuss the Murphy report later. We have had the Ryan report and an implementation plan for it from the Minister of State, Deputy Barry Andrews. The implementation plan is excellent but will resources be made available for it? We have heard so much talk about the need to protect children in the aftermath of the Ryan and Murphy reports but are we only paying lip service to the issue? Will resources be made available, despite the financial difficulties we are facing, to protect children and implement the recommendations made in the reports? That is the critical question.

It looks as if the Government will attack children by cutting child benefit which, I have no doubt, will have a dreadful effect on families and children. Families are extremely worried about the cut and the implications for their weekly budgets and children. We will watch the budget very carefully today to see what values it espouses and if resources will be provided to ensure more than lip service will be paid to the protection of children.

Cutting back the work of the Office of the Ombudsman for Children is not the way to proceed, in the same way as getting rid of the Combat Poverty Agency, the Human Rights Commission and the Equality Authority was not the right direction in which to move at this time of difficulty. We will have a debate in the House tomorrow and will see how the budget plays out.