Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)

It is a difficult job, but I will hang on to what the Minister said recently, namely, that she wanted to steer the Department of Social Protection towards a culture of enablement. That is a fine principle, one I would like to see us have. As such, we need to take practical steps to achieve it. Given the criticism levelled at the Bill, it might have been easier for the Minister to cut every programme by 2% or 5%, but I understand she was trying to achieve structural change, on which I compliment her because she is trying to move people away from dependency towards enablement.

We must compliment the Minister on adhering to the principle of maintaining primary rates and examining supplementary rates. However, the devil is in the detail and as such, I would like to tease out a number of the sections, but we should proceed with the debate on the Bill, section by section, because that is the only way we will help people. We should examine the sections that may be harsher than others because we want to make sure we do not push anyone into poverty. I checked some of these measures with Social Justice Ireland because I had some concerns, but I have had them allayed. Therefore, I encourage everyone to proceed with the debate on the Bill, section by section.