At this stage of the national debate I have lost count of the multitude of spurious, inaccurate and misleading arguments put forward by the vote "No" side.
I do not doubt the concerns of many who advance that argument. However, when I hear some opponents putting forward the case that a "Yes" vote to Maastricht will lead to social welfare cutbacks, my faith in their bona fides is totally undermined.
I do not need to remind the House of the strain that our unemployment level is placing on the Exchequer finances. The published Estimate of the Department of Social Welfare for 1992 discloses that we will spend a gross £3,360 million, of which £946 million will go to the unemployed.
One does not have to be either a mathematical or financial genius to comprehend that rising unemployment is the major constraining factor in expanding and improving our welfare services. In that context, are people really serious in advocating a "No" vote for the Treaty? Many of our foreign industries are located here solely due to our Community membership. Furthermore, our chances of attracting new industry here are dependent on continuing as first division members of the Community. As Minister for Social Welfare, I dare not contemplate the thought of the Irish people rejecting the Treaty on 18 June. Such a scenario will mean certain increasing unemployment in the immediate short to medium term — the longer term would be even more disastrous.
Some people have expressed concern that the disciplines imposed by the move towards economic and monetary union will necessarily require reductions in social welfare expenditure. This is one of the most absurd and nonsensical points put forward by the "No" vote lobby. The real facts are, however, that the benefits which will flow from European Monetary Union will, by strengthening the economy, put us in a much stronger position to develop our welfare services in the future in a more planned and structured way and in line with our capacity to meet the costs.
Participation in an integrated Europe will not reduce the need for effective management and for the adoption of the correct policies at national level. By doing so we stand to make major advances and to avail fully of the benefits of a more integrated Europe.
Control of the national debt and discipline in the public finances will be very important in the context of the new situation and the Treaty contains specific targets which we will be committed to.
It is worth remembering, however, that the need for discipline is there in any event, whether we are participating in the move towards economic and monetary union or not. We have to get our public finances and our level of debt under effective and lasting control. While we have undertaken in the context of the Maastricht Treaty to operate within certain specific parameters and timescales, we should not think that staying out would make life easier for us on that front. Difficult decisions will be necessary whether we opt to stay in or instead try to go it alone. It is much more in our interests to deal with our problems within the framework of an international agreement which contains specific measures and commitments to assist us and where we will have a direct voice in the ongoing development of the Community.
The idea which some people have put about that the Maastricht Treaty will require cuts in social welfare services is a complete distortion. It is a lie. The Maastricht Treaty is good for social welfare recipients. The development of the Community up to now has been to the good of social welfare recipients and the further developments which are to take place under the Treaty can only be of benefit to them as well.
The improvements which we will derive from being part of the process of achieving economic and monetary union will strengthen our economy and, therefore, our capacity to fund the developments in social welfare to which we are committed. By getting our economy in order and resolving our underlying problems in relation to the public finances we will create the conditions for a firm and soundly-based development of the social welfare support systems.
The Maastricht Treaty is of vital importance to Ireland. It is the latest step in the achievement of a more integrated Europe. Ireland is participating in that process. We have always been very clear that, politically, economically and socially the best way forward for Europe is through closer integration of the countries of the Community.
As a small open economy we have already derived great benefits from our membership of the Community. Despite the problems which we have, our economy is now in a much stronger position than it would otherwise have been. With the development of the Single Market we have full and free access to a market of 340 million people. Community countries take over 75 per cent of our exports. Irish agriculture derives major benefits from the Common Agricultural Policy. The Structural Funds have brought about major investments in infrastructure and industry.
The benefits from membership of the Community are, of course, not automatic. If our membership has proved one thing, however, it is that it is far better to be in at the negotiating table and taking a full part in the development of the Community. Only in this way can we exert the necessary influence, not only to avoid the possible disadvantages for a country like ours which would otherwise arise from the development of a Single European Market, but to have our agenda specifically recognised and taken on board in the context of these developments. Our continued active participation in the development of the Community is, I am convinced, vital if we are to be able to tackle the major issues which face us as a country.
We have also, I feel, become more realistic about what can be achieved. There is no guaranteed pot of gold at the end of the Community rainbow. We may have felt at an earlier stage that it would be only a matter of time before standards of living here would be on a par with standards throughout the Community. It is not as easy as that. All member states have suffered the effects of recession. It is my firm belief, however, that for all countries, particularly Ireland, the best prospect for improved living standards in the future is in the context of active partnership in the further development of the Community.
The Maastricht Treaty will undoubtedly make Europe a wealthier place. Economic and monetary union will lead to an increased level of economic activity in the Community. As an open economy relying very heavily on international trade we should be in a position to benefit significantly from this growth.
Central to the objectives of the Treaty are the achievement of an environment of low inflation, steady growth, a high level of employment, convergence of economic performance and economic and social cohesion. Specific targets are set down to achieve these in stages. These will impose certain disciplines on us as a country in the short term. But the achievement of these targets will put the economy on a much stronger footing.
The challenge will be to see how continued economic development and prosperity can be achieved through the functioning of the Single Market while at the same time ensuring that economic and social cohesion is maintained. The commitments built into the Treaty give us an excellent basis on which to achieve progress and to ensure that we participate in and benefit fully from the development of the Community.
As well as the economic benefits which we have obtained from our membership of the Community, it has also been responsible for significant developments in the area of social protection which have been to the benefit of workers here. As far as social security is concerned EC initiatives in the early stages mainly involved measures to facilitate freedom of movement of workers, which was one of the basic pillars of the Community.
As a result of our EC membership there is now a wide range of protection for migrant workers in the social security field, including transfer of pensions and other welfare benefits. In the future this protection will be extended to other categories of people and as a country with large migration we will be very interested to be involved in such developments.
I might also refer in this connection to the provisions for equality of treatment for men and women. While recognising the difficulties which have arisen because of the delay in implementing the equal treatment directive in the area of social security, we have to recognise that the Community has been at the forefront of developments in relation to equality of treatment and non-discrimination and overall this has been greatly to the benefit of Irish women.
Let us look at some of the things that membership of the European Community means for women. The Community leads the way, through its modern legal framework and its supporting efforts, in raising awareness of equal opportunity and equal treatment in daily thinking at every level, in all spheres.
Ireland's membership of the Community has been the driving force behind the Anti-Discrimination (Pay) Act, 1974, and the Employment Equality Act, 1977. The EC programmes on equal opportunities covering the years up to 1990 focused attention on a number of areas of specific relevance to women. These include the need to shape policies to tackle the effect of new technologies on womens employment; womens unequal access to vocational training; the impact of the achievement of the Single Market on the services sector where female employment is predominant; and the growth of temporary and atypical work. EC social policy has also been a driving force, as I mentioned, behind the implementation of equal treatment for women in social welfare.
Initiatives such as those I have outlined have served to increase the participation of women in the Irish labour force. Since our accession to the Community the level of womens participation in training has increased every year. In 1971 only 5 per cent of trainees in Ireland were women. By 1991 women represented 42 per cent of all those completing training.
Irish women have also benefited from a wide range of interventions sponsored by the European Commission including the Commission-sponsored networks and programmes. These include vocational training for women, local employment initiatives, childcare, positive action strategies, the elimination of sexism in our schools, the portrayal of the image of women in the media.
Looking ahead, the adoption of the Maastricht Treaty will enable Ireland to participate fully in the third medium-term Community Action Programme on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men 1991 to 1995. This will address issues such as equal pay for work of equal value and the concept of indirect discrimination and the integration of women into the labour market; improving the status of women in society through awareness-raising initiatives and promoting the participation of women in the decision-making process in economic and social life. We are not talking, therefore, just about an economic Europe but about a social Europe as well. As Minister for Social Welfare I will be seeking to ensure that the benefits of Community membership reach people on social welfare and other people on low incomes.
The Treaty also contains a special Protocol which includes an agreement by eleven member states — all except the United Kingdom — to adopt specific measures in the social policy field by continuing along the path laid down in the Fundamental Charter of Social Rights which was adopted by eleven of the member states in December 1989.
The Social Charter, as it is called, sets out a number of principles which will guide Community social policy in a number of areas, including rights in relation to freedom of movement of workers within the Community, improved living and working conditions for workers, the right to adequate social protection, an adequate level of social security benefits for workers and a guarantee of resources for people outside the labour market.
The inclusion in the agreement annexed to the Treaty of the commitment of the eleven member states to implement the Social Charter puts social policy clearly within a Community framework and guarantees its place within the Single Market. In the context of developments in social policy at national level in the future it will be necessary to take more and more account of developments throughout the Community.
The convergence of social security policies within Europe is an objective of the Social Charter to which we have given our support. All of our countries are faced with common problems in the social security field, namely, ageing of the population, rising unemployment levels, changes in family structures and new patterns of employment.
We all need to look to the future and ensure that we have systems which meet the needs of our people for security in old age, widowhood, sickness, unemployment and so on, which is viable from a financial point of view and which does not inhibit, but rather encourages people towards greater independence and self-reliance where this is possible. It is for member states to determine the priorities in terms of their developments of their systems but the monitoring of progress by the Commission and the process of consultation will facilitate member states in developing more efficient and better targeted systems.
There is no point in pretending that the process of social convergence will be easy. There are costs involved and there is no provision for transfer of resources at Community level. There is a challenge for us here. I am already acutely aware of the financial problems which face me as Minister for Social Welfare in meeting the growing costs of social protection even without any movement towards higher levels of protection. The costs of unemployment are obviously a major element of this increasing cost and it may well be that in future the financing of unusually high levels of unemployment in any member state should be seen as a Community problem needing Community support even on a limited scale.
I have made clear the Government's commitment to protect the position of people who depend on social welfare, and particularly those at lower income levels. We have made commitments under the Programme for Economic and Social Progress to improve the basic rates of payments. It is clear to me, however, that there is a need to look at how we are going to pay for the system in the longer term. We have a plethora of schemes and services, all introduced at different times to meet particular needs, many of them involving major and growing financial commitments and many of them, in my view, overlapping with each other. It is difficult for people to know what their entitlements are in many cases because of the sheer complexity of the system.
My objective is to simplify and streamline the system. I believe we can achieve a more logical and sensible system, with clear objectives and simpler conditions of entitlement, and one which will be sustainable in the long term. If we do not set our minds to doing this in a planned way, we run the risk of not being able to sustain the supports which are there. I believe that the development of common agendas and common approaches in a Community context can help us in developing our social welfare system in an effective way.