Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister for Social Protection to the House. My main concern is the telephone allowance, an issue raised by other Members. It is urgent because it affects every elderly person. I know many elderly people who had to have their telephone taken out because they could not afford it. These are the most vulnerable in our society and the Minister needs to examine this.

Up to 59% of lone parents experience deprivation and 134,000 children are in constant poverty. Soup kitchens have been set up across the country, including in Carlow town. I constantly go begging to every Minister looking for funding but am told there is none. Again, this affects the most vulnerable people in our society. There was no increase in the back to school allowance or the children's allowance benefit. The fuel allowance needs to be addressed urgently because most people who need it do not qualify for it, affecting the most vulnerable again. The families in question cannot get the warmer home schemes, which leads to a knock-on effect with people losing out on the benefit of both measures. It needs to be addressed.

I welcome the payment of 85% of the Christmas bonus and the self-employed payment is good. I have, however, issues with the €5 increase for social welfare payments and the State pension. I have significant issues with the carer's, disability and the medical card allowances. I have spent up to 16 weeks looking for a carer's allowance. If the application is unsuccessful, it then goes back into appeal which will take another three months. It ends up with an eight-month wait for a carer's allowance for someone who urgently needs it. This is across the board. I am not blaming the departmental staff for this. It is not their fault. The Minister, however, must look at putting extra staff to deal with this. Someone needs to step in and sort it out. It is the same for medical cards and disability benefits. These are people who have nothing and are waiting for payments to come through. This is the reality with which I deal every day. If I am not ringing up about a carer's allowance, it is about disability allowance or a medical card, all because of backlogs and understaffing. If the Minister is giving all these increases, he will need to look at providing more staff. It is unfair to the departmental staff and to those who have been waiting three to six months. The best one is that every time one puts in the application or other documentation, it gets lost. Something needs to be done about this. I know the Minister will do his best and it is not the fault of the staff.

Most Members have been local authority councillors and know how hard they work. While the Minister is looking at the PRSI stamps issue for them, he needs to look at an increase for them. How much will a councillor get with this extra measure? It is a full-time job. Those involved love it. It is a calling and they work long hours. That is not the problem. How much of an increase will they get with this Bill's measure?

As Senator Mulherin said, those paying PRSI on rental income are paying tax on everything. The Minister needs to look at some form of rent relief or other measure.

These are the issues which need to be addressed and affect the most vulnerable in our society. While there have been welcome changes, the Minister needs to look at the elderly, children and people just barely making ends meet.