Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Senator Norris has just left the Chamber but on JobsPlus that was a briefing document, which was part of the normal briefing to Members before the Bill was published. This does not need to be dealt with in legislation but it is important that it is there for the information of the Seanad.

I take Senator Byrne's comments in the spirit they were made. This is an extremely difficult time. When the last Government was in power, 1,000 jobs were lost per week. We are in a better situation now when 1,000 jobs a week are being created. The Senator said that this Government has cut the social welfare budget by €2 billion. The amount is actually €1.6 billion. Much of that is reflected in the number of people who have returned to work, meaning there is a lower pay-out which has given us some flexibility.

I take all the Senator’s points on the bank bailout. The Labour Party and the Tánaiste voted against that. I will not remind the Senator of his own party’s history in that respect. The Senator constantly brings up the ESRI report. I do not agree with the element in the report that stated older people took less of a hit because many factors were not taken into consideration. That is why 25% of the Christmas bonus and the living alone allowance were included. The Senator is right to say that the living alone allowance is quite small. There has not been an increase in the allowance since 1996, the last time the Labour Party was in government. The increase is approximately 17% of the living alone allowance. It is important to recognise that because it is as costly to heat a home for one person as for two and often there is no income. I would like the allowance to be acknowledged more in the future, to help people. Sometimes cooking one dinner is as cheap as cooking two. None of this is taken into consideration for older people. There are contradictions in the ESRI report and I do not think Senator Byrne would agree with what it states about how austerity measures have hit older people. Senator Byrne probably feels, like me, that they were hit harder and that was not captured by the ESRI study.

The switch programme is being carried out and will be published as quickly as possible and made available. I do not intend to accept the recommendation.