John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

There are only a few points I wish to make on the Bill. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy White.

Everybody expected the social welfare cuts to be outlined in the budget announced last week. There was an expectation that some of the more vulnerable groups would be exempt from those cuts or treated better than they have been or as proposed in this legislation.

I have spoken on a number of occasions in this House and in other places about the position of carers and Senator Coffey and others mentioned it previously. It is a particularly mean cut because just about every carer in the country does it because he or she is caring for a loved one or family member. Such people certainly do not work because of the big money they get from carer's allowance. The Government is safe and sure in the knowledge that these family members for the most part will continue to look after their loved ones despite the cut in carer's allowance. That is a particularly pointed attack on a sector of society that saves the State billions of euro per annum with the care provided to family members in their homes.

I cannot get my head around the logic used by the Government in cutting the carer's allowance. The lazy option was taken by the Government with a 4% reduction across the board in welfare payments and exemptions should have been made for carers, people on disability and people who are widowed. Different figures have been mentioned for separate groups, with some indicating that approximately €90 million would have prevented such groups from suffering the reduction this Bill imposes. I do not see why the Government could not have adopted a more nuanced approach to the way we spend our money on social welfare. I agree wholeheartedly with Senator Coffey's points.

I met a woman two years ago who was in a panic about a potential cut to child benefit. She announced to me in the same breath that the money was being saved in an account for the child when he turned 18. That woman should not be getting child benefit because for many families the allowance puts bread on the table. That is what it is for. I utterly reject the lazy approach of the Government in implementing a cut across the board and a specifically deeper cut for the third child. A much more thorough reform of the child benefit system was required in the budget.