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

I thank the Senators for their contributions over recent days. I am sorry I am a little hoarse but I am well on the way to recovery. It is a little like recovering from a cold where a person does not believe it until they are over it. The public listen to Members in this House talking about recovery and things getting a little better, but they have not felt it yet in their pockets or in the expenditure. They have not seen improvements in services. They are asking where is all this recovery that we are talking about. We have gone through seven years of difficult budgets and, as two Senators mentioned, this is the first budget where we have not taken any money away from people and we have given a small amount back. I note those who are more interested in protest than in people will say it is mere crumbs, but in percentage terms, it is quite substantial.

The €5 increase in child benefit is welcome. We will be able to pay it in January due to the Bill being passed this evening. The Bill will probably be signed on Christmas Day and the increase in child benefit will be paid in January. For many families, that will be the first sign that some money is coming back into families. Likewise, I was talking to some pensioners last week who told me that the 25% Christmas bonus meant €50 to them. However, it was very welcome because, they said, it is a sign of recovery. It is when a person sees the €1 in their hand, purse or pocket. For many years, many pensioners were not in a position to buy a Christmas present and now that they will have that additional money coming into Christmas, as many Senators will agree, it makes a significant difference to those families. That is why I get so annoyed sometimes with reports which pull in these sectoral areas and state that the middle-income group was not really squeezed as much as the lower-income group or the higher-income group was not squeezed, and pensioners got off much easier than everybody else. That is not the case. Everybody has suffered over the past seven years. One can cite the proportionality of it, but if one talks to individuals, they only see the pain that they have suffered over the years or how their families have suffered.

I hope this is the beginning of what we would see as putting money back into people's pockets and a little light at the end of the tunnel. The only true way out of poverty is ensuring people get back into employment. There is €1.1 billion in labour activation measures and that will help families. There is nothing better than for a child to see his or her parents going out to work.

I support strongly Senator van Turnhout's position on services. The area-based childhood, ABC, programme, where it is being trialled, is excellent. Those are areas that we should work at and enlarge and we should look at how we can assist those. The additional €2 million for the school meals programme is excellent.

Senator Moloney made good points about carers and I take them on board. On the telephone allowance, similar to the respite care grant, carers have also suffered no matter what their income. Commentators will state the benefit is not means-tested, but during the good times, it was an acknowledgement of the amount of work that carers carry out for society.

I sincerely hope this will be the start. I hope we will be able to improve on it in the next budget and that future Governments will be able to re-establish many benefits. I hope we will move away from the scattergun approach and make evidence-based interventions because in the past there was an idea that one should throw money at it and it would be okay, and that has always been the answer when there has been money around. We must be more targeted. We must look at early years intervention where children are concerned. We must look at the weaker and more vulnerable members of society.

I thank the Cathaoirleach and I thank the Senators for their contributions and I wish them and their families a very happy Christmas.