Is the Minister satisfied with a situation whereby married women will be discriminated against in that they are not entitled to receive any more than they would if they were treated as a dependent? Does she agree that is discriminating against them on the basis of their marital status?

I do not see where the discrimination arises because it applies to men, women and children all being equal now as a result of the directive which was designed to remove the discrimination which considered that a woman was always the dependent of a man and that the man could only be a dependent of a woman if he was sick, if he was on disability benefit or long term illness payments. The EC directive removes that element of discrimination in terms of prescribing women as dependents. Under the assistance schemes and social welfare schemes people are means tested. In fairness we must have some arrangements whereby one household is not receiving a whole lot more payments than they should, simply because we are trying to remove discrimination. The arrangements being brought in under this directive in compliance with the EC directive are fair to both spouses.