I propose to take Questions Nos. 20, 50 and 148 together.
The improvements in the social welfare area, which I introduced in this year's budget, will cost £90 million in 1995 and £212 million in a full year. Considerable progress still remains to be made and my views on the inadequacy of the basic rates of social welfare entitlements are already on record. I consider that they need to be greatly improved.
The EU Commission report, to which the Deputy refers, describes the social protection systems operating in the member states of the European Union. The report aggregates spending on health care, housing benefits and social welfare payments in calculating the per capita spend on social protection. One reason the resulting per capita spend is lower in Ireland than elsewhere is the relatively small growth in retirementage population compared to other member states.
In 1986, the Commission on Social Welfare set out a range of minimum adequate income rates and recommended a priority rate as an interim target to be put in place pending the implementation of the minimum adequate rates. The programme, A Government of Renewal, includes a commitment to carry out a review of the rates recommended by the Commission on Social Welfare. The Economic and Social Research Institute has started working on this and the review will be completed by mid 1996.
The completion of the ESRI review will coincide with the tenth anniversary of the publication in 1986 of the report of the Commission on Social Welfare and will thus provide a timely opportunity to assess objectively the extent of the progress that remains to be made in this area.
The review will consider the adequacy of the rates of social welfare benefits and allowances. The study, with other reviews of the social welfare systems, such as that of the expert working group on the integration of tax and social welfare, will form the basis for the formulation of proposals for improvements in the social welfare system in the years ahead.
The question of funding any improvements will be considered in the light of the resources available when the extent of the requirement is quantified and in the context of the commitment in A Government of Renewal to maintain and develop the social insurance system.
As the ESRI, and others in earlier reports, have identified families with children as being at greater risk of poverty, I have taken a significant step towards addressing that issue in the 1995 budget. The increase in child benefit accounts for 38 per cent of the cost of the 1995 budget improvements and almost 50 per cent of the full year cost.
The extent to which I or any Social Welfare Minister can improve social welfare rates further will depend on the willingness of the public to support such increases.