The establishement of an inclusive society, where all citizens have the opportunity and the incentive to participate fully in the social and economic life of the country, is a fundamental objective of this Government. In formulating proposals for inclusion in the 1999 budget, therefore, the Government will be endeavouring to ensure that the benefits of economic growth are shared by all.
The Government's 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 income 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 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 dependent allowance; and the strengthening and expansion of the community development programme operated by my Department.