Proinsias De Rossa
Question:58 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs his priorities for social welfare initiatives in the 1998 budget. [18682/98]
Written Answers. - Social Welfare Initiatives.
One of the Government's key objectives is the establishment of an inclusive society where everyone has the opportunity and the incentive to participate in the social and economic life of the country. In formulating proposals for the 1999 budget, the Government will aim to ensure that the benefits of economic growth are shared by all.
The Government's Programme, An Action Programme for the Millennium, contains a wide range of commitments relating to the areas for which I have responsibility, including commitments to provide for substantial increases in social welfare payment rates, including increasing the old age pension to £100 per week over a five year period; to progressively relax the qualifying conditions for the carer's allowance to ensure that more carers can get the benefit and to increase the value of the allowance in real terms; to implement the report of the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities, including an overhaul of the means by which the State supports the incomes of people with disabilities; — to refocus the tax and welfare system in favour of the family unit; and to establish a national mediation service. In addition, Partnership 2000 provides,inter alia, for the implementation of the minimum rates recommended by the Commission on Social Welfare before the end of the partnership; family income supplement to be reformed so as to be calculated on a net income basis; the alleviation of the poverty trap created by the £60 spousal income limit for the purposes of entitlement to the qualified adult allowance and child dependant allowance; and the strengthening and expansion of the community development programme operated by my Department.
As a result of the improvements provided for in the 1998 budget, substantial progress has already been made in relation to many of the above commitments. For instance, the special £5 per week increase for pensioners marks a significant first step in meeting the Government's commitment to increase the old age contributory pension to £100 per week by the year 2002. The general £3 per week increase for those aged under 66 years means that 93.5 per cent of social welfare recipients are about or above the minimum Commission on Social Welfare recommended rate.
Other commitments which have been implemented or progressed include the calculation of the family income supplement on a net income basis, with effect from the beginning of this month, and the allocation of significant additional funding for the family mediation and marriage and child counselling services and the community development programme. My priorities for the 1999 budget will include making further progress towards implementing the various programme commitments outlined above, having regard to the available resources.