Delegates demanded action on poverty, arguing that the gap between the rich and poor had widened. Mr Gerry Breen, Dublin North Central, said the benchmarking of social welfare payments would take politics out of poverty.
"Society should be the extension of the family where those less well off are looked after. If we do not act responsibly towards the poorest in our society, how can we expect them to behave responsibly?"
Mr Michael McDonagh, Galway West, said there were 50,000 local authority homes, in the Ireland of the Celtic Tiger, without a modern heating system.
"We have 19th-century Victorian housing conditions in our modern Ireland. There is no recognition, at the heart of the Government of today, of the appalling failures of local authorities to look after these families. This is truly a national scandal."
Delegates passed a motion abolishing the means test for the carers' allowance, introducing a cost-of-care grant for carers allowing social welfare recipients to obtain the allowance while retaining their welfare benefits.
Mr Pat Breen, Clare, said carers performed an invaluable function. "This Government seems to think they are expendable, to be treated with contempt and as an expense which must be reduced for the sake of economic statistics.
"Fine Gael has the vision to see that far from being a burden, carers are the very people who hold the fabric of society together.
