Marie Moloney (Labour)

I thank the Minister for coming to the House to debate the Social Welfare Bill. I have no doubt that she must have the most difficult job at the Cabinet table. The country has suffered the greatest economic crisis in living memory; therefore, the budget was never going to be easy. There is no hiding from the fact that the country and the Government must take and have taken very difficult decisions. Delivering such decisions is not an easy task, one I know that was not taken on lightly. The core aims of job creation and introducing reforms, fairness and balance were at the forefront when trying to make cutbacks.

I am very much aware, as are most people in the country, of the pressures on the social welfare budget. We must take into consideration that 40% of the overall Exchequer budget allocation goes on social welfare. By its nature, social welfare assistance is provided to help those in need. Therefore, no matter where cuts are made, someone is going to be hurt. Even though the cuts may amount to slightly over 2% of the social welfare budget they will have an effect on many people.

I am delighted the Minister was able to deliver on the commitment in the programme for Government not to cut primary social welfare payments. Many people were waiting with bated breath, afraid she would not be in a position to honour that commitment.

I am also pleased the Minister did not cut child benefit for every child across the board. The Government favoured targeting support at low income groups through other measures, such as family income supplement. A value for money report carried out by the Department of Social Protection argued that better outcomes could be attained by rationalising current programmes in favour of providing more consistent assistance to lower income families. In the last budget, the Fianna Fáil-led Government made €873 million worth of cuts to social welfare spending, including a €10 cut to child benefit across the board. Fianna Fáil also proposed to slash social welfare spending by an additional €665 in 2012. The current Government was unwilling to impose such a devastating level of cutbacks at a time of such economic difficulty. The Government limited the adjustment to social protection spending to €475 million, which is slightly over 2% of the Department's spend in 2012.

The broader question of reform of child income support is being considered by the advisory group on tax and social welfare, which will report early next year. I know Sinn Féin will complain about cuts to child benefit. I ask Senators to note the level of child benefit under a coalition which includes Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland. It is much lower than ours.