THE Minister for Social Welfare, Mr De Rossa, said the Budget improved the financial position of everyone in need. "It reinforces the incentives for people to avail of work opportunities and it provides improved support for all low income families. It is pro work, pro family, well targeted and cares for the elderly."

It gave him considerable satisfaction to have remedied the damage done to the social welfare system by the "dirty dozen" cuts introduced in 1992 by Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats. The system was not perfect now, but the changes made over the last two years had given a helping hand to those who needed it and provided a springboard for those trying to get into the paid workforce.

Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats were entirely devoid of a coherent strategy on social welfare. "One of them wants to slash social welfare payments while the other wants to pay people more. One of them talks about closing gaps and traps while the other was responsible for creating them in the first place."

Deputy McCreevy of Fianna Fail, when in office, was a "slash and burn minister" who did immense damage to the integrity of the system. As for the PDs, Deputy "Hong Kong" Harney offered workfare solutions, while Deputy McDowell worked on the abolition of what he saw as "the social welfare monster". The two parties were not only divided among themselves; they wanted to create an even more deeply divided society between the haves and havenots.

The Fianna Fail spokesman on law reform, Dr Michael Woods, described the Budget as "full of sweeteners". There were many measures in it that he welcomed, but the fact remained that the national debt amounted to £27,000 for every worker in the State. We were moving into tighter control under the EMU where the only way of dealing with crises would be through taxation. We would not have the option of exchange controls or increasing interest rates.

If there was an international slump combined with a drying up of EU funds, we would be in real difficulty. "We want to prepare for that situation and we cannot do it with a `confetti Budget'."

The leader of the Progressive Democrats, Ms Mary Harney, said she wondered where Fine Gael was when the Budget was being drafted. "It may be the largest party in Government but it certainly is not the party in power. It is a sad reflection on Fine Gael that at a time of unprecedented growth in the economy it achieved so little for the people it purports to represent.

Contrary to the impression being given, the ordinary worker earning £150 a week would be better off by just £2.86 a week. A married man with a dependent spouse and two children earning £250 would be better off by just £3.50, hardly 90p a week for each member of that family.

Nominal wage increases were of no value if the State confiscated such a large percentage of the earnings of workers. "Taking £5.50, or 55 per cent, from the marginal or overtime earnings of the factory worker is not trying to encourage effort and enterprise.

"Unless we change our tax system and realise that people at the bottom suffer most through our penal levels of tax we are not going to see a shift from social welfare into employment, no matter how many jobs we guarantee."

Between 1991 and 1992, Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats had reduced the standard rate of tax by 5 percentage points and the higher rate by 8 points. "That was at a time when we did not have the boom we have now."

The Government was blowing the opportunity that the boom provided to transform our society. Even with the boom this year there would be £0.5 billion added to national debt. "If, at a time when the economy is growing and we get £2 billion in development aid from the EU, we still have to add £0.5 billion to our national debt, what will happen when we are in the EMU straitjacket and the funds begin to dry up?"