asked the Minister for Social Welfare if, in view of the difficulties which parents are experiencing owing to the rise in the cost of many essential goods and services, he will consider introducing proposals for legislation to increase the rate of children's allowances.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Children's Allowances.
The Government's next steps in the matter of social security are indicated in the White Paper issued on that subject. When these proposals have been implemented by the enactment of the Social Welfare (Insurance) Bill, 1950, the question of improving the children's allowances scheme will be examined.
Is the Minister aware that substantial demands are being made for increased wages to meet the high cost of living, and does he not think that increasing the rate of children's allowances would be a more equitable way of dealing with this problem—the general rise in prices?
Wages in this country have to find their own level, in the way in which the normal equilibrium is found in every country. This is something which ought not to be mixed up, and was never intended to be mixed up, in support of wage levels. As the Deputy will appreciate, even if the allowances were increased there would be a considerable number of workers who would not benefit because it would not affect single workers, married men without children, or men with one or two children, all of whom presumably are entitled to make claims for increased wages to meet an increased cost of living. These claims will have to be dealt with in some manner other than by an increase in children's allowances.