Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the House for agreeing to my sharing of time with Senator Currie.

I welcome the Minister to the House and I would like to start where finished. She stated:

This Bill is a fair and balanced one. It responds to the needs of members of our community whose income needs are greatest.

That is quite correct. Over the past 12 months, she has been listening to all the proposals that were made in these Houses and at parliamentary party meetings. The Government and the Minister have dealt in a very fair way with the needy of this country. Not only have they responded with increases in welfare allowances, such as increases to the old age pension of €12, and other pensions, but they also introduced one-off payments, which were an absolutely marvellous idea, providing much-needed revenue to cover energy and other costs for families who are under severe pressure. People have welcomed what has happened and they know the Government has been very fair to them. I have not heard people complaining, to be honest, at that level. Quite a lot of households are in need but they know the Government and the Minister have provided a great response to the needs of families following the pressures that have been put upon them by the war in Ukraine and the pandemic before that.This Government has been under great pressure over the last number of years and it has responded very well to the issues. We can see that from the beginning of the Minister's speech where she outlined the various payments, including the autumn double paymen; the €500 lump sum paid to all people receiving a long-term disability payment; the €200 lump sum payment to people receiving the living alone allowance; the €400 lump sum payment to all households in receipt of fuel allowance; the €500 lump sum for the working family payment; and the double child benefit payment. The latter are two vital measures to support hard-working families, as the Minister said. There is also the €500 extra payment for the carer's support grant, paid to more than 114,500 carers. The Government has also responded through the increase in the old age pension of €12 a week. Many pensioners are looking forward to that. It has also dealt with the CE schemes, which is very welcome. As the Minister said, it is very difficult to get workers in some schemes. The measures the Government has implemented or is going to implement through this legislation will help to find workers in the various communities where the schemes are in operation. All those things are very welcome. We will have a greater opportunity to go into greater detail on the many issues raised here on Committee Stage.

The Department of Social Protection now has the biggest budget in the country. It has surpassed the health budget, or near enough. It is a huge payment and a huge responsibility for the Minister. The Social Welfare Bill is as important now as the Finance Bill, although the Finance Bill gives effect to many of those payments as well. This Social Welfare Bill is a very important Bill and it provides for the most needy in the country. I welcome this Bill and welcome the Minister to the House. I look forward to the opportunity to go into more depth on Committee Stage.

Some people are still not too happy with the K class of PRSI. Is it going to continue? There are people who pay the K class but they do not seem to get any great benefit from paying that contribution. I think they would prefer if the K class was changed, even if it cost more money, if they were going to get benefits. I ask that the Minister have a look at that when we get to Committee Stage. Senator Craughwell has raised this issue on numerous occasions. I am looking forward to the passage of this Bill. It is timely before Christmas. I thank the Minister again for the many lump sum payments to the many needy families throughout this country over the last number of weeks.