6th November, 2002
Dr. Henry: I very much welcome the Minister to the House and I am particularly glad she is in the Ministry she is in. In other forums, I have found her very sympathetic to the fact that the family is not just the nuclear unit we have been used to for a long time, but she takes a much broader view on the whole issue, which is extremely important.
The Government motion is a good one, because there have been dramatic improvements in social welfare payments in recent years. More spectacularly, there have been improvements in services and information from her Department and its clients. I have complimented the staff from that Department many times when they have come to this House about the dramatic improvement in acting as though the citizens of this country had rights rather than thinking they were giving them some sort of largesse, which was not their own money except for a small proportion from tax. I very much welcome the improved attitude regarding the treatment of those who have to come before people with social welfare problems. As a doctor, naturally I would be well aware of the very shabby way people were treated in the past, as though they barely had a right to ask for their dues at all. I welcome what the Minister and her predecessors in the Department have done.
I am sorry that the amendment is true. There has been a huge increase in relative poverty in the last six years and it seems to affect a hard core of people. Poverty levels are measured on different scales but there is a hard core of people whose lot we do not seem to have been able to improve, even though in some cases they perhaps could claim for more.
The Minister for Finance seems to have a terrible problem, though I do not know how it arose between May and now. Apparently there is a great shortage of money that was not evident before the general election in May. Now there are startling revelations and though they are not this Minister's fault she will have to bear with them as the Minister for Finance will have to do something to balance the budget. We have said tonight she has a dissatisfied group and she will have a dissatisfied group in the Seanad if some of what we ask for does not come to pass.
All strategies should be considered as to how they affect children, no matter what Department they come from. That is often tagged on at the end but if it is a priority then there is a really good start to the strategy. The Minister's plans five or six years ago gave a commitment to great increases in child benefit and there have been great increases, though there could be more. He made a commitment to bring child benefit to €31.60 per month and €38.10 per month at the higher end. Those were very good increases but if they were part of the expectations of poorer families it would be a good idea for them to get those increases now. Child dependency allowances should also be increased to a weekly rate of €25 per child.
Support for children by way of actual money is terribly important. Unfortunately we have not been doing anything about child care and many people working outside the home must spend some of this money paying up front for child care, so getting hard cash is terribly important. I urge the Minister to encourage the Minister for Finance to do this. We could integrate the family income supplement into the tax system and perhaps examine the introduction of a refundable child tax credit. The children's allowance people will have been on to the Minister with all these suggestions and I hope they have contacted other Senators also. Some of the suggestions could be implemented in the current budget.
Naturally I looked at child health care very carefully and the medical card situation is very bad. Our statistics are extremely odd regarding the number of medical cards actually available to the population - it is probably less than 30% of the population now; though the figures say 33% it is probably much less. The Minister may remember that last year when the Minister for Health and Children brought in eligibility for medical cards for the over 70s another third of people had to be added on - those who were not expected to be on the register at all. Colleagues in primary care tell me that less than 30% of the population are actually eligible, which affects children first and foremost. We have talked and talked about extending the eligibility of children and perhaps that could be done now - it is certainly one of the most important things in the health sector.
We are trying to do something about waiting lists for children and I hope that commitment is honoured. We also need to put a great deal of money into those initiatives that particularly affect children, initiatives dealing with drug dependency and, sadly, with alcohol dependency as well as substance abuse. We heard again today about the sad death of a 15 year old due to substance abuse. How much are we doing about these cases? This requires resources because it is not so much the treatment of the child when it happens as a matter of acting in the education system to do something about it.
It is also important to improve the community services which could prevent drug and alcohol addiction. There are too many people in urban areas in particular who have been trying for years to get resources for initiatives that would help communities and families but they have not been able to get them. Perhaps the Minister could urge that some funding be provided for them.
Children with disabilities form another important group and the domiciliary care allowance is not great - it does not come near to covering the cost of caring for a person. I regret the building of the children's prison; if money was put into the Minister's Department and community care there would be far less need for it.
We are also desperately short of child psychologists in many areas where they would be helpful - the Minister's Department, the Department of Health and Children and the Department of Education and Science. I urge the Minister for Health and Children to reverse the decision to cancel the courses in clinical psychology in both Trinity College and University College Dublin. Because of that cancellation we will not be producing one new clinical psychologist before 2005 and we are short 50% of our requirement now. Trying to recruit from abroad has not proved satisfactory.
I wish the Minister well in what she is trying to do. She should go in and really fight.
Visit the Irish Government Website for the full text of this speech: Click Here
