Feargal Quinn (Independent)

People going on stage are advised never to share a stage with animals or children, because they cannot win against them. One should never stand up to speak after Senator Norris because one cannot win, as he speaks with such emphasis and clarity. I had planned to speak about the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Barnados and Focus Ireland, because we have been approached by all three and they have made a clear case for recognition of the problems they face and the great work they are doing.

I too am delighted that the Minister for Social Protection is Deputy Burton. I was not sure initially that she was the right person for the job, but she has clearly taken on the challenge, which is significant. The challenge is to ensure that if we are to spend money on social protection that we earn that money and to find a way to do that. We cannot do it by cuts alone, but cuts must be part of how we do it.

Unemployment has risen from 14.2% to 14.4%, which is serious. If we look back 26 years to 1985, unemployment stood at 17.3% then. The good news is that while we had 1.1 million people working in 1985, we now have 1.8 million people working, an extra 700,000 people. The Minister looks like she questions that, but that is the figure I have. We have a significant number of people working, compared to the number we had working in the past. What we must do is to take up the challenge of ensuring we create more employment. The more we increase taxes in order to pay social welfare or other debts, the less likely we are to achieve that.

I believe there is no long-term plan with regard to the social welfare budget. We should have a discussion on what is meant by the "social welfare state". However, it seems that is a taboo subject which we do not want to discuss. We simply cannot afford social welfare and should look at this issue more closely in the effort to design a new kind of Ireland. We must consider whether we should plan for the future or deal with it piecemeal as time goes on. One of the challenges we face is that many people who are suffering enormously, while others are not suffering. Take, for example, child benefit. I have a problem with regard to how inefficiently this operates. Surely, there must be some system which can ensure we do not automatically pay child allowances to people not in need.