Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very welcome to the House. I was in Skerries this morning canvassing with our fantastic candidate, Grace Boland, and we met numerous people. I met a woman and we had a chat. I just asked her how she was getting on and she said, "Sure amn't I flying it. I am going getting a load of money in the pension in the next couple of weeks because of Heather Humphreys." Mention was made about meeting people on the ground and how people appreciate the increases, I have just given an example from this morning of someone who is really looking forward to their payments. What I said to the woman is "If you want that to continue, make sure you support the Government at the next election", and her very quick response was, "But Heather won't be there so what'll we do?" To which I responded, "We have all learned within government to be more like Heather so that will continue into the future."

As the Minister said, this is the largest social welfare budget that has ever been put forward. Approximately ten payments will be made between now and the end of the year. Some people have tried to make fun of the fact that so many payments are going out and so much money is being delivered but they are going to people who are vulnerable and need support and whom we recognise need money now and quickly at a difficult time of year.

As she also said, she has done an awful lot for carers. Such work would be recognised by carers and Family Carers Ireland.There is always more to do - that is the nature of politics - but the Minister has made a huge contribution to carers in her role as Minister for Social Protection. The carer's support grant is an obvious one, which is now up to €2,000.

The Minister has also increased the jobseeker's benefit which is very important because the cost of living is very difficult and when people are between jobs, they need support. Under the new changes the Minister has made for people who are out of work for a short period, the rate of payment will be up to €450. That is a big step because the drop in income for families can be dramatic.

The one-off payments are significant. The child benefit one is huge for many families with young children. The Minister is introducing a payment for newborns. She welcomed the fact that Christmas babies will be included in that. A constituent told me that the Minister could have given people a heads-up that this payment was going to come nine months ago. We would probably have more babies at Christmas time if that had been the case.

On a serious note, I listened to the Minister's interview on Sunday in which she spoke about her contribution and the many roles she has played, a number of which have been mentioned. The one she is most proud of is the hot school meals initiative.