Vol. 179 No. 8
I move:
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £587,000 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1960, for Old Age Pensions and Pensions to Blind Persons, Children's Allowances, Unemployment Assistance, Widows' and Orphans' Non-Contributory Pensions, and for Sundry Miscellaneous Social Welfare Services, including Grants.
The need for this Supplementary Estimate arises from the Social Welfare Act, 1959, which increased Old Age and Blind Pensions Widows' Non-contributory Pensions and certain rates of Unemployment Assistance by 2/6d. a week from the first week in August, 1959.
As shown in the Supplementary Estimate, the additional sum required for Old Age Pensions—Subhead A— is £585,000. It was originally estimated that the increase in old age pension rates would cost £694,500 in the current year. Now it is estimated that the cost will be rather less, namely, about £585,000. Owing to the numbers of pensions in payment during the year being less than anticipated there will be an estimated saving of £100,000 on the original provision of £10,400,000 for Old Age Pensions, with the result that an additional sum of £585,000 will suffice to meet the whole cost of this service for the year.
Similarly, on Subhead D—Widows' and Orphans' Non-contributory Pensions—the additional sum required to be voted is less than the cost of the increases as originally estimated. It was originally estimated that the cost would be £108,500. The present estimate of the extra cost is slightly lower, at £106,000. In addition to this small reduction it is expected that there will be a saving of £26,000 on the original provision of £1,627,000 under Subhead D, owing to the numbers of pensions in payment during the year being slightly less than was anticipated. Accordingly, an additional sum of £80,000 will meet the current year's requirements for Widows' and Orphans' non-contributory Pensions.
On Subhead G. there is provision for an additional sum of £4,300 for Welfare of the Blind. The authorities of the approved institutions for the blind have been pressing for some time for increased assistance on the ground that the increased cost of maintaining blind inmates had caused considerable financial difficulties for the institutions. After full consideration it was decided to increase the amount of the State capitation grants payable to the institutions and to ask the local authorities to increase their contributions also. I am glad to say that the local authorities responded and agreed to increase their contributions from the 1st April, 1959. With the approval of the Minister for Finance the State grants have been increased as from the same date. The additional cost to the Exchequer for the increase in the State Grants amounted to £2,200.
A sum of £1,320 was also paid to an Institution, which closed down in December, 1957, in respect of grants due for the year 1957. The claim for these grants was not ready for payment until certain legal formalities connected with the winding up of the institution had been completed.
There has been an increase in the number of blind persons maintained in the other institutions and an extra £780 is needed to cover the consequential increase in the amount of grants payable.
The sum already voted for Welfare of the Blind is insufficient to meet these various additional requirements and I am, therefore, seeking a sum of £4,300, bringing the total cost of this service for the year to £18,800.
The additional sums required, details of which I have given, come to a total of £669,300. It is expected, however, that savings will arise on other Subheads of the Vote, mainly on Subhead B—Children's Allowances —and Subhead C—Unemployment Assistance. These savings are estimated to come to about £82,300, and accordingly the net additional amount required to be voted is £587,000.
This is still another Supplementary Estimate which we feel the House should pass. It is vital that those classes in the community who are dependent on the State to maintain the level of life that means all the difference between destitution and a reasonable standard should be cushioned against the increase in the cost of living. Consequently, we welcome any measure that will protect those people from a worsening of their meagre standards.
This is another Supplementary Estimate arising from the Government's policy of withdrawing the food subsidies in the Budget of 1957. It was announced to the House and to the country that the expenses of the State would be reduced by the £5½ million that were being spent annually on the subsidisation of food. When those subsidies were withdrawn, a feeble attempt was made to compensate the aged people for the impact of that withdrawal, but there is no evidence that any effort the State has made has cushioned them against the impact of the hardship of that withdrawal.
To-day we were informed that there is an increase of £5½d. in the price of the 2 lb. loaf of bread, the article of diet which is most important to the classes catered for in this Estimate. That is only one of the items which has risen in price, due to the action of the Government. Although we were presented with the picture of a strong Government capable of cutting State expenditure, we have had a whole series of increased Estimates and Supplementary Estimates in an effort to cushion the most deserving members of our community against the impact of the increase in the cost of living. However, despite all their efforts, the Government have failed to save the people from the result of their own extremely ill-advised action.
The Parliamentary Secretary has indicated in figures that there has been a saving of £100,000 in the past 12 months on the amount originally estimated as necessary for the year's working. This bears out the opinion of many of us that for several months past, there has been a much more stringent application of the means test since the Government decided to increase the old age pensions. We all know of cases of widows who had to bear the increase in the cost of living and whose allowances have been suspended or withdrawn. I know of several such cases and I can give them to the Parliamentary Secretary, should he require them. These are cases in which old age pensions were arbitrarily suspended, pending further examination, and the net result was that they were either reduced or withdrawn. That is now proved by this saving of £100,000.
Further on, the Parliamentary Secretary stated that it was necessary for the State to come to the assistance of the institutions looking after our aged people. This should have been obvious to the Government when they decided to withdraw food subsidies. It should have been obvious that these institutions could not possibly provide the aged people with the amount of food necessary to maintain them in reasonable health, once the food subsidies were withdrawn. This is just another effect of the Government's action at that time.
I want to pay a well deserved tribute to the work being done by many of these institutions. It is a magnificent job of work and I do not know what so many of our people would have done, had it not been for the help given by the Nazareth Home, near Mallow. It is regrettable that there are not more such institutions and it is also regrettable that they had to limit those seeking admission to the North Cork area. The provision to give increased assistance is very desirable and it is only proper that this Estimate should be passed so as to give these people the amount necessary for them to live in frugal comfort and to enable these institutions to meet their increased running costs.
It is amazing that on the day Deputy N. Lemass announced that there was a tremendous economic upsurge and that in respect of our housing requirements, we must look forward to increased family numbers, the Parliamentary Secretary for Social Welfare should indicate that the Estimate for children's allowances was over-estimated and that a saving had been effected. In the Book of Estimates published to-day, there is a further reduction of £17,000 on the amount to be paid in children's allowances next year. That is proof positive of the real state of affairs in this country. It is a true statement of what is happening, not what Ministers say at dinners, meetings or what is published in the Irish Press. Due to emigration, we have had a saving in the amount paid out for children's allowances in the past 12 months and there is to be a still further saving in the coming year.
