Deirdre Clune (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and commend her on a number of points. First, she has succeeded in bringing her reductions to ¤390 million and she got ¤150 million savings. We should all remember that ¤150 million in her own Department and that of the Minister for Health is to be funded by taxation measures at a time when we are trying to keep taxation low to encourage consumers to spend and employers to develop job opportunities. Second, I commend her, in a difficult budgetary context, for maintaining core social welfare rates in jobseeker's benefit, jobseeker's allowance, carer's allowance and State pensions. We need to repeat that and should be very proud of a budget which can deliver those rates in such difficult times.

I was encouraged to read the proposals in the budget regarding children, in particular the creation of 6,000 after-school child care places for primary school children. The objective is to permit the parents of those children to partake in a training or employment opportunity, hopefully the latter. It is a positive proposal. Anyone who says the budget is anti-children is making misplaced comments. There is additional money for the school meals programme and the area-based poverty initiatives which are helping the most vulnerable children in our society. They also help their parents to develop employment opportunities and we do not hear enough about them. We should repeatedly refer to them. I hope the media will take them up and inform people of the very positive developments which will help children and encourage them. Those of us who have worked with these programmes, including Members opposite, know their value full well.

Somebody said the budget was not reforming enough of social welfare. The Minister spoke today of how she is changing the emphasis from the payment of income support to the development of employment initiative programmes. I welcome the addition of 10,000 places on various programmes. JobBridge has been particularly successful. A recent independent report of Indecon set out that 52% of participants in those courses gained employment. Up to 90% of participants were happy and gave positive reports of the necessary skills they developed and their confidence that they would be able to gain employment. Community employment schemes have been extended and new places developed on local authority employment schemes. These initiatives came from debates in this House. The Seanad has proved itself useful in influencing the Minister, which she acknowledged in her speech.

It is important to recognise that the national carers' strategy was published in the last 12 months. It had been long outstanding and shelved by previous Governments. While I wish the respite grant could be maintained, the fact that carer's allowance, carer's benefit, domiciliary care allowance, relative's allowance and half-rate carer's allowance are still in place is positive. I have spoken to many carers who are upset that the respite grant has been cut. I ask the Minister, as Senator Moloney did, to consider introducing means testing in this area as there is some disquiet.

The Minister of State, Deputy Perry, is concerned about the need to get people back to work. I have spoken to many who are availing of these very valuable employment schemes and they are positive. To say that this is not a reforming budget in respect of its social welfare contribution is completely untrue.