asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will state in respect of each of the past four years the percentage of GNP spent on social welfare benefits in Ireland and in each of the member countries of the EEC.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Social Welfare Benefit Expenditure.
13.
The total expenditure on social welfare services— mainly income maintenance services— administered by the Department of Social Welfare, exclusive of administrative costs, represented 5.5 per cent of GNP in 1967, 5.6 per cent in 1968, 6.0 per cent, provisional, in 1969 and 6.7 per cent, estimated, in 1970. These figures cover what is customarily referred to in this country as social welfare benefits although they do not include services such as home assistance, or wet-time benefits, or services which are operated through other Departments which might come under a general classification of social welfare such as redundancy payments, disabled persons allowances et cetera, or under the heading of social security as it might be understood in other countries, such as medical care, rehabilitation services or some form of occupational pensions or war pensions. As I explained in reply to a similar question on 10th December last, figures for income-maintenance services in the EEC countries are not published separately from total expenditure on “social welfare and security” and I am, therefore, unable to say how the figures I have given compare with EEC countries.