Addressing health problems, and indeed all aspects of public expenditure, is not simply a matter of additional resources. We must assure ourselves that we are getting the best value from existing expenditure. Consultants were appointed last May to carry out a comprehensive value for money audit of the health services. I look forward to their recommendations in the Spring on the development of a management information system for the health services. For the same reason, the management reforms in the civil service will place a greater emphasis on the outputs achieved by public spending programmes than has been the practice to date.
Medical Cards for Older People
In my 1999 Budget, I announced that the income limits for Medical Cards for people aged 70 years or over would be doubled over three years, commencing in 1999. That process will be completed next March, and it is now proposed to take the next step. I am pleased to announce that from 1 July 2001, entitlement to the Medical Card is being extended to all those aged 70 years or over.
Other services for older people are also being improved. I am providing an additional £23 million to develop a range of services in community support and to increase the provision for Nursing Home Subventions.
Intellectual Disability
The Government gave a commitment in 1999 to meet the identified needs of those with intellectual disability within a three-year time frame. A great deal of progress had already been made, with substantial additional service funding up to the end of 1999, but the level of unmet need remained unacceptably high and we were determined to address the issue. In last year's Budget, I commenced the process by allocating significant extra funds to enhance the overall level of residential, day and respite services throughout the country. This year, I am providing an extra £28 million for the coming year, and £35 million in a full year to help meet our targets. This will bring the overall level of spending on these services to about £450 million in 2001.
Other Services for the Disabled
I will refer later to improvements in social welfare services for the disabled.
Last June, the Government completed the mainstreaming of the disability services of the National Rehabilitation Board into the relevant Departments and Agencies and additional resources have been allocated to bodies such as FAS, Comhairle and the National Educational Psychological Service for next year to enable them to carry out their added responsibilities.
In addition, the Government is making very considerable progress in upgrading transport services for the benefit of this group; a further 140 wheelchair- accessible buses are due for delivery to Dublin Bus in the coming months; new wheelchair-accessible DART and Arrow rail cars are being commissioned; and by the end of next year, it is expected that Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford will have fully wheelchair-accessible bus fleets. I am also increasing the maximum grant under the Disabled Persons' housing grant scheme.
Screening for Breast and Cervical Cancer
Pilot programmes for breast screening and cervical screening have already begun. Because of the complexity of the screening process and the crucial need to meet quality assurance requirements, it is necessary to proceed on a phased basis. We must also, of course, ensure that treatment capacity is in place to address the new cases that will inevitably be identified. To secure these objectives, I am providing an additional £1.5 million to the Breast Screening/Treatment programme in 2001. Our aim is to ensure that women at risk will have an entitlement to free screening throughout the State.
Hospital cancer services are also being given priority, with an extra £13.5 million in 2001, rising to £24.5 million in a full year.
Children
In the PPF, we recognised the importance of policies to support children and family-friendly life. The Government and society values the role of those working in the home who are looking after others.
Today I am announcing a major initiative in relation to children which goes well beyond what the PPF would have involved.
The measures which I will now outline amount to the largest ever package of supports for children and their parents. Last month, we published Ireland's first ever National Children's Strategy. This Strategy has been welcomed both here and abroad as marking a major move forward in public policy.
The Government has already put in place a wide range of measures to increase the supply of childcare places in all parts of the country. The National Development Plan includes £250 million for childcare and the Government subsequently allocated a further £40 million for this purpose. To facilitate early action, this spending is being front-loaded through the allocation of £104 million in the Estimates for next year.
There is a very substantial increase in the allocation to the lead Department - Justice, Equality and Law Reform - from £20 million this year to £74 million next year for the expansion of the programmes already in place:
capital grants for commercial creches and for community-based childcare facilities;
staffing grants for community-based projects; and
a national childminders' initiative.
The balance of the £104 million allocation is for a number of Departments to fund:
the use of spare classrooms for childcare;
a national after-school initiative;
childcare employment grants; and
the provision of childcare in local authority developments.
Child Support
The House will be well aware of the great diversity of views that are held in relation to addressing the childcare issue. The Government's core objective is to provide support which will offer real choice to parents and will benefit all our children. This we can do through Child Benefit.
I am pleased to announce therefore that the Child Benefit rates for first and second children are being increased by £25 to £67.50 per month and by £30 to £86 per month for third and subsequent children. The new rates will be payable from next June, which is three months earlier than usual. This increase of over 50 per cent in current payment rates marks the first step in a three year programme.
At the end of this process, an additional one billion pounds will have been invested directly in our childrens' well-being. Child Benefit monthly payments will stand at £117.50 and £146, well beyond the PPF commitments. This will mean up to £90 per month extra for each child at the end of three years. By then, a family with four children will be receiving the equivalent of over £120 per week in Child Benefit support.
This unprecedented increase will help all parents with the costs of caring for their children and will represent a major move towards achieving the goal of ending child poverty in this country.
Maternity Protection & Parental Leave
This Government's Action Programme for the Millennium committed us to improve maternity protection legislation as a key component in the development of equality for women. In that regard, I am today announcing a 4 week extension of the period of paid maternity and adoptive leave to 18 weeks at an estimated cost of about £20 million in a full year. In addition, the period of unpaid leave will be doubled from its current level to 8 weeks. This means that, from early April next, a mother can take up to six months leave in the period around the birth or adoption of her child.
During the coming year, it is proposed to advance the promised review of the parental leave legislation with a view to the improvement of the arrangements in this area.
Employers and Childcare
In previous Budgets I introduced a number of changes to tax law aimed at encouraging the increased supply of childcare facilities and these are having an effect. The exemption from benefit-in-kind tax for employer-provided childcare should also help supply. I will, however, be discussing with employer bodies how the rules for this scheme might be modified to secure further increased provision of childcare facilities at a reasonable tax cost to the Exchequer.
In addition, the Government is conscious of its responsibilities as the largest employer in the country. I am therefore providing for the introduction of a major Civil Service Childcare Initiative. This entails establishing creches for the children of those working in Government Departments. It is also the intention to pursue this approach in the context of the decentralisation policy.
I am allocating £10 million capital over two years to allow for the provision of fifteen civil service creches over the next two years. Finally, I would intend that other public service employers would also adopt a similar approach in this area.
Childcare Support Structures
In order to increase the level of practical supports for childcare providers and to underpin a greater emphasis on the quality of provision, I am providing for the recruitment of additional childcare support staff throughout the Health Board system at a full year cost of £1.2 million to operate a voluntary notification system for childminders. Additional funding is being allocated to FAS for the training of extra childcare workers.
Foster Care
The Government recognises the immense contribution to society made by families which offer a home and support to vulnerable children through fostering. I am, therefore, providing an additional £9 million in the context of restructuring the existing payments and support systems. I am also amending the capital acquisitions tax rules to give foster children similar rights to other children.
Sport can play an important role in combatting social exclusion and in personal and community development. To meet the plans of the Irish Sports Council, the Government intends to double the Council's annual budget over the next four years to £20 million. As a first step, I am now allocating an extra £2.5 million in 2001 to the Football Association of Ireland and the other relevant sports governing bodies. The details are set out in the Summary of Budget Measures. In addition, I am providing a further £2.5 million to encourage greater under-age participation in the major field sports and £0.5 million for the promotion of a healthy and active lifestyle among older people.
The Government is committed to combatting drug addiction. On this occasion, I am providing an additional £2 million for the National Drugs Strategy, over and above the £15 million already allocated in the Estimates. This funding will ensure that the new action plans emanating from those areas worst affected by the drug problem can be put in place as soon as they are ready. I am adding £5 million to the Health and Children Vote for the expansion of the Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation services. In addition, I am allocating £10 million over the next three years for the accommodation requirements of community based projects, starting with £3 million in 2001. The additional funding confirms the Government's continued commitment to the National Drugs Strategy and will provide an important impetus for the new strategy which will be launched in the New Year.
A fairer society
The third aim for this Budget is to promote a fairer society. This is one of the Government's core objectives and one of the aims of the PPF. The social inclusion agenda of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness sets out the key objectives and necessary actions to achieve a fairer and more inclusive Ireland, through expending an additional £1.5 billion over 3 years on social inclusion.
Opportunity to Work through Training
In a fair society everyone should have the opportunity to work and to acquire work skills through training. The National Development Plan includes £10 billion, or one quarter of its funds, for employment and human resources programmes. By next year the Government will have increased spending on training to £220 million - almost 65 per cent higher than in 1997. We will have also increased the numbers of apprentices being trained by almost five times to 25,000. The National Training Fund which I announced in the Budget last year will play its part in this.
This innovative measure allows the State and employers to work together in this area.
Social Welfare
Today's social welfare improvements will cost an estimated £850 million in a full year. The 1997 Budget equivalent was £215 million. Last year's figure was £400 million.
Payment Date
I am keeping the promise made in my first Budget to bring forward the payment date for weekly social welfare increases to coincide with the beginning of the tax year. In 1997 the weekly social welfare increases were paid in June. The 2001 increases will be paid in April, the beginning of the income tax year, which is four weeks earlier than in 2000. Moreover, I have already decided that, from 2002, the increases will apply from January when the tax and calendar years are being aligned.
Older People - Old Age Pensions
This Government has made income support for pensioners a priority. Pension rates were increased by a total of £18 per week in my first three Budgets. Today, I am increasing the full personal rate of old age and related pensions by a further £10 per week or by up to 11-1/2 per cent. This will bring the rate of Old Age Contributory Pension to £106 per week. In addition, in an initiative which will be of major benefit to pensioner couples, I am beginning a phased increase in the qualified adult allowance for those aged 66 years and over to bring them up to the Old Age Non-contributory Pension rate. As a result of these changes, a full rate old age contributory pensioner couple, both aged 66 or over, will receive an increase of £25 per week in 2001 bringing their combined weekly payment to £185.60, or £52.20 per week more than in 1997. No one can say that this Government does not recognise and appreciate the part played by the workers of yesterday in laying the foundation for so much of our current economic success.
Social Welfare Weekly Payments and Qualified Adult Allowances
Social welfare recipients will have their living standards protected and improved by the increase of £8 per week, which I am announcing. This is double the increase paid in 2000 and is equivalent to 10-1/2 per cent on the lowest rates. Last year, I signalled that the qualified adult allowance would, in general, be increased over a 3 year period to 70 per cent of the personal rate. In the second stage of this move, these allowances will be increased by a minimum of £7 per week. Thus, from next April, couples on full rate social welfare payments will receive an increase of at least £15 per week. Families with children will, of course, also benefit from the very considerable Child Benefit improvements which I have already announced.
Incentives and Employment Supports
In order to maintain the incentive to work, the income thresholds for the Family Income Supplement are being increased by £25 per week from next April. This will result in average payments of £56 per week for existing recipients. A range of extensions and improvements are also being made to various employment support schemes designed to facilitate the ending of welfare dependency among disadvantaged groups.
Up to this, the Contributory Pension for widows aged 66 years and over has been lower than the Old Age Contributory Pension rate. I have decided to eliminate this gap over a two year period commencing in 2001. As a result, the widows in question will receive a special weekly increase bringing the Widows Contributory Pension to £102 - a total increase next year of £12.90.
Disability
Persons with disability deserve particular consideration. Accordingly, I am extending eligibility for the Living Alone Allowance to all qualifying recipients of Invalidity Pension, Disability Allowance, Unemployability Supplement and Blind Persons' Pension. As a special measure, I am also removing the limitation whereby only a reduced rate Disability Allowance is paid where the person's partner is in receipt of any other social welfare payment.
Free Schemes
Last year, the social welfare free schemes were made available to all those aged 75 years and over irrespective of income or household composition. I am now extending such availability to all those aged 70 years and over from next May. Over 40,000 households are expected to benefit from this change. Those over 70 will also benefit from the Medical Card changes already announced.
Fuel Allowance
I am extending by three weeks the period during which the fuel allowance is payable. From now on, the allowance will be payable from the first week in October until late April. Payments for the current winter will continue for an extra two weeks.
In recognition of the important role they perform, recent Budgets have contained many improvements in the supports available to carers. On this occasion, I propose to grant a very significant relaxation in the income disregards which apply in relation to the means test for Carers Allowance. Details of this change are outlined in the Summary of Budget Measures. This will increase the numbers who will qualify for the allowance by some 5,000 as well as benefiting many current recipients. In addition, the annual respite care payment will be increased to £400, with a double payment applying where a recipient is caring for more than one person.
Other Social Welfare Improvements
The Summary also contains a range of other social welfare improvements, full details of which will be announced by my colleague, Mr Dermot Ahern, TD, Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs.
Homelessness
The Government is determined to tackle the problem of homelessness in a concerted and coherent manner. Capital funding is being doubled from £20 million to £40 million over the next five years to provide additional accommodation for homeless persons, particularly transitional accommodation to facilitate moving out of emergency accommodation. An additional £6 million current funding a year is being made available to local authorities to fund increased subventions for hostel accommodation.
Tax reform
The fourth and final objective of this Budget is to reward work and enterprise by continuing our programme of tax reform.
Income Tax
Tax Reform is also a matter of fairness. I have in my first three Budgets made radical reforms to the whole tax system. I have made the income tax system inherently fairer by introducing tax credits. I have cut tax rates to improve the incentive to work and to contribute to the development of the economy. I have removed substantial numbers from the top tax rate and, for the first time in many years, ensured that single earners on the average industrial wage and others on modest incomes, no longer face the top rate of income tax.
I have also radically improved the position of the lower paid in the tax system. To listen to some commentators, one would believe that all the gains from tax reform have accrued to those they like to call high earners.
Let me set the record straight. This Government's achievements in assisting the low paid in the tax system are second to none. In the last three years I have
removed 176,000 low earners from the tax net,
cut the burden on the lower paid in half,
reduced the tax rate on the low paid in many cases by up to 10 percentage points or more,
done far more than in many other advanced economies in cutting taxes on single and married earners on low and middle earnings.
These facts are recognised by international commentators. A recent European Commission report praised our progress in this regard which is ahead of most other countries.
I have pursued a consistent and balanced course and I delivered on what the electorate was promised.
In this Budget I will be following the path I laid out and marked clearly in advance. The personal tax reductions I am about to announce will benefit taxpayers by £1,231 million - that is nearly three times the amount we promised under the PPF for this year. I am happy to be able to do this and to acknowledge the policy input of the Social Partners in this regard.
Before announcing the details, I should remind the House that the next tax year will be a short year running from 6 April to 31 December 2001 to accommodate the introduction of the calendar-based tax year from 1 January 2002. In addition, we will complete the move to tax credits. The changes, which I will give in terms of full year amounts for sake of comparison with this tax year, must be converted into nine month equivalents. The relevant details are set out in the tables in the Summary of 2001 Budget Measures. The tables also give amounts in euro. As the House will be aware, euro notes and coins will come into circulation from 1 January 2002.