Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The feelings people have towards the Department and the Minister seem to be a common thread today and I will not be any different. I compliment the Minister in particular on a personal level for the amount of work she does and the way she deals with us as representatives. She gets back to us incredibly quickly. She is the most consistent Minister in answering the phone and getting back to us as quickly as possible. For someone who is a new public representative, it is very much appreciated.

As almost everyone has said, the Department has been put under immense pressure for the past nine months. The Minister's predecessor, Senator Regina Doherty, did phenomenal work at the start of the pandemic and the Minister has taken it on. We were at a stage where we had 1.3 million people receiving either the pandemic unemployment payment or a jobseeker's payment. The Department was able to facilitate this and work through it although it all happened suddenly. It was not like previous recessions in which people gradually lost their jobs, it was overnight. I compliment the work the Department has done. Everyone has said it and everyone feels the exact same way. It has been a phenomenal achievement. Everyone focuses on the Department of Health and the Department of Finance for obvious reasons but one of the biggest strains this pandemic has caused has certainly been to the Department of Social Protection.

I will not go into too much detail because many people have raised many measures they welcome, such as the fuel allowance increase and the living alone allowance increase of €5. Although it is €5, people really welcome it and it does mean a lot of them. It is an acknowledgement that we understand they need support and we are supporting them. The disability allowance increased by €20 from €120 to €140. This is important and it is another statement that we want to support people. The carer's support grant has increased by €150 from €1,700 to €1,850. This is very welcome in the community. Councillor Richie Molloy in Clonmel does an awful lot of work for family carers in Tipperary.There is always a need for more support but certainly it is a large increase and it is very welcome.

I do not know whether other Senators touched on this but I have an interest in it from my perspective. I want to acknowledge the increase in the parental leave benefit from two weeks to five weeks, an increase of three weeks. There have been issues with getting it implemented and I compliment the work the Minister has done to make it happen. People will now be able to take the extra three weeks' parental leave from the start of 2021 although the payment will not be made until the start of April. Parents who have had children in the past 12 months will now be able to take leave. They thought they might have been able to take only two weeks but now will have a total of five weeks' parental leave. It is a very important statement by the Government that we support families and parents and that we support the structure of giving parents and guardians as much time as possible with their children at the very early stage of their lives. The statement made by increasing the leave from two weeks to five weeks, with financial support from the Government, is hugely welcome.

We could go through many measures to welcome and acknowledge them but I will not do so. It is a very good budget. To think we are putting €25 billion into the Department of Social Protection is phenomenal and the responsibility for the Department is huge. What it has done over the past nine months has been nothing short of incredible. I thank the Minister.