Breeda Moynihan-Cronin (Kerry South, Labour)
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Question 64: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he will make a statement on his Department's Estimates for 2006. [37215/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The Estimates for my Department, as set out in the recently published 2006 Abridged Estimates Volume, provide for spending on social welfare totalling €12.49 billion. Those Estimates make no provision for changes in eligibility, entitlements or rates of payment for any of the underlying programmes, which are matters for the forthcoming budget.

Even before announcements in next week's budget are taken into account, the provision of €12.49 billion in 2006 represents an increase of €232 million on the 2005 Estimates. It is also the highest ever commitment to social welfare spending in the history of the State.

The corresponding pre-budget figure for 2005 was €11.4 billion, and that was significantly boosted by the addition of €874 million in a full year in the 2005 budget.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Estimates for my Department in the Abridged Estimates Volume are a framework to which the budget allocations will subsequently be added. They are therefore only the first stage in a two-stage process. The second stage will be completed next week with the announcement of the 2006 budget changes.