I want to raise with the Taoiseach the savage 16 cuts in social welfare announced last week. A senior citizen came into my clinic last Saturday, a man who retired on a modest pension three years ago. He is a coeliac and he explained that his cost of living will increase three and a half times its present level when the dietary allowance is phased out. How can the Taoiseach justify the Minister for Finance taking advantage of the well-intentioned Minister for Social and Family Affairs and cutting her budget for the weakest and most vulnerable in society by €58 million at the same time as he increases the allocation for horse racing to €67 million?

Among the savage 16 cuts are cuts in the housing rental supplement which will literally put people onto the streets; the phasing out of the dietary allowance for people like the man who called to see me on Saturday; the cutting back of unemployment benefit by 11 weeks, even where people have PRSI stamps; the cutting of the back to education allowance for people trying to get a pathway out of their circumstances into third level education; the cutting of the MABS supplement, where the service for people approaching the Money Advice Bureau Service to broker a settlement with creditors is now cut, which will result in those people being driven into the army of moneylenders.

How can the Taoiseach justify cuts of €58 million for the weakest in our society when €67 million will be made available, most of it in prize money, for the diversion of tax exiles in the racing industry? How can the Taoiseach justify the attack on lone parents contained in the cuts of €58 million? How can he justify the situation in community employment in circumstances where we have the most expensive community employment scheme, costing €67 million, for the delectation of those who will not even pay their taxes in this society? I do not include in that €67 million the 100% gift of €15 million arranged by the Punchestown duo, Ministers McCreevy and Walsh, for a facility that we now find is not large enough for the purposes for which it was constructed.

The Estimates are before the House today and a number of my colleagues, including the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Deputy Coughlan, will be going through them in detail. I will say a few words about the Estimates for the Department of Social and Family affairs. The Estimate that will be before the House is one of €10.65 billion, an increase of €355 million over last year. It is almost double what it was just a few years ago, in spite of unemployment figures falling to 4.4%, half the European Union average. This does not take into account increases that will be announced on budget day.

The social welfare spending represents year on year increases under this Government from only a few years ago when the figure was only €7.8 billion. The increases over the period have been largely directed into improving the rates of payment in line with the Government commitments. An estimated 970,000 people on average are expected to claim social welfare payments. The Government has reduced the poverty levels across all areas and categories of social welfare. We have targeted any measures that we have into areas which the Minister will be very glad to deal with. I can go through the back to education allowances, the lone parent allowances and the rent subsidy allowance mentioned by Deputy Rabbitte. There are five measures directed mainly to ensuring that rent supplements are paid in appropriate circumstances in accordance with established policy, taking account of the objectives of the policy—

That is a joke. There is no rent allowance for the first six months. How will people manage for six months?

The measures focus, as they are meant to, on meeting immediate and short-term needs, rather than long-term housing needs. In particular we will take into account the interests of vulnerable groups such as homeless, the elderly and people with disabilities.

Who will?

We remember the £1.80 allowance.

They will all be out on the streets.

They will be fully protected in the course of implementing these measures. Health boards will retain the discretion they currently have to make exceptions in individual cases if the circumstances warrant it. In addition, measures will be implemented in the context of a greater role for local authorities in meeting their long-term needs. The Minister in her schedule and her contribution to the House will give the full details.

What about the diet supplement?

The diet supplement mentioned by Deputy Rabbitte is being phased out over a number of years. The supplement has become outdated in the context of real increases in social welfare payments in the past number of years.

The Taoiseach speaks with a forked tongue.

The Taoiseach is out of touch.

It reduces the necessity for these narrow top-ups. In some cases the diet allowance top-ups are 42 cents per week. I am not too sure what case Deputy Rabbitte is referring to but these are the figures. If he can dispute these figures he may do so with the Minister. They are very small top-ups to the scheme. If a person has an exceptional need, and there is such a case as Deputy Rabbitte mentioned, the person can still put his or her case to community welfare officers.

The Taoiseach should not shift the issue to the community welfare officers.

That is what they are there for.

That is most unfair. We know the Taoiseach did not give them the money

The social welfare system is not there just to be abused.

The diet supplement is not a means of abuse.

The Taoiseach is losing the run of himself.

Deputy Stagg will not lecture me because I remember the kind of paltry increases that his party approved. The figure of £2.74 will be remembered, and the tiny increases given by the leader of the party of which Deputy Rabbitte was a then member. We are not going to listen to that. The reality now is that substantial increases are being given across the ranges to the less well off, and in the areas where the Minister has tried to deal with the system and rid it of abuses which should not be there, she has allowed for measures to assist people in need.