For a number of weeks there was heightened speculation about Ministers and who would lose his or her job and who would be promoted, with all revealed on Friday. Then we had a similar situation with Ministers of State and all was revealed today. While I wish everybody well in their new role, the question is what difference they will make to the communities and groups in society who are struggling. What are vital are the policies being pursued. Incidentally, I did not notice any mention of drugs, particularly when one takes into account that based on statistics, three times as many deaths occur because of drugs than on the roads.

Hear, hear.

There is no doubt there has been an unfairness in economic policy. Regardless of budget, austerity or recession, the lives of some people in society do not change one iota, while those in the low and middle income groups suffer disproportionately. We are told we are in recovery, and we have various statistics to show this, but it is not filtering down through society. Economic policy has dominated the political agenda and I suggest this is at the expense of social policy. If social policy is ignored, it contributes to economic inequality. Various think tanks have shown us we have very unacceptable levels of economic inequality. I was struck by a recent newspaper survey which stated the 250 richest people in Ireland are worth €50 billion.

I wonder what contribution they have been making to our recovery when so many of them have become non-resident for the purpose of tax avoidance and others have found other methods in order to avoid paying those taxes. We know the social consequences of that economic policy, including emigration, the housing crisis, homelessness and what is happening in our communities as pointed out recently by Br. Kevin Crowley from the Capuchin day centre. We have communities and groups that are struggling as we approach the budget season. What are the values that will determine the decisions to be made at budget time?

I thank the Deputy for her question. She will have noted the comments made, particularly by the Tánaiste in recent days, in respect of social repair, the necessity for social housing and the necessity to restructure many of the systems to reflect the difficulties people have had arising from the economic collapse a number of years ago. It is because of social welfare transfers - social welfare payments - the at-risk-of-poverty level has been reduced by 61%. The structure of how social welfare payments have been made is of direct assistance to the local economies because it is spent in those economies.

This morning the Government gave authorisation to the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to proceed to draft heads of a Bill in respect of approved housing authorities with particular reference to social housing, which is an issue of pressure in this city and other areas. Given the scale of the economic collapse a number of years ago, clearly the priority had to be to rectify our public finances and get our house in order, and for that reason to have our deficit below 3% by 2015, which target will be achieved.

The sacrifices of the people in recent years have benefitted our country's standing in terms of improvement of our economic performance. We now need to spread that benefit through the different regions of the country. That is why housing and social repair in many of these vulnerable communities is of such importance. All of these are set out in the economic strategy statement approved by the Government last week. It is our intention to implement those targets and objectives to the benefit of people all over the country. It is not a case of focusing on particular areas where there is a problem now and just dealing with that. It is clear that the sacrifices people made need to be reflected in the benefit for the people and that is where we need to be.

The statement of economic strategy reflects very strongly the issues of social repair and how we intend to deal with social deprivation in the time ahead. It is a balance between continuing to get the economy on a growth pattern while at the same time being able to reflect that in dealing with socially vulnerable areas as outlined by the Tánaiste on a number of occasions.

Listening to the Taoiseach's answer, we see the disconnect between the theory on the one part and the reality on the other. We know about sacrifices, but those sacrifices have been disproportionate. There are people in this country who have not made one sacrifice because they have been protected by the economic policy. There is no doubt that the cuts have undermined people's rights - rights to a decent living, housing, education and health. Certain vulnerable groups are being affected disproportionately, including women, children, the elderly and the disabled. The Convention on the Constitution has recognised the need for a referendum on economic, social and cultural rights.

One of the reasons budget cuts are not fairer all around is that we do not have a democratic participation of all sectors in the budget process meaning that the principles of social justice and human sympathy are missing. We need to give a sense of dignity through those policies to those groups that are vulnerable. There are two ways to do that. One is the equality proofing of budgets - the social-impact analysis of budgets. The other is to listen in a meaningful way to the social actors who are directly involved with communities and groups that are struggling and not just pay them lip service.

Last week the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection met all the social groups in Dublin Castle over a period of five or six hours and engaged directly with each of them to hear at first hand their views of what might be able to be reflected in October's budget. There are now 70,000 more people working than previously. For 24 months we have had a continuous drop in the live register of unemployed people. The previous Government decided to reduce the minimum wage from €8.65 to €7.65. When elected to government and following the negotiations with the troika that was reversed. Some 330,000 people were taken out of the requirement to pay the universal social charge. There were socially advantageous decisions for vulnerable groups. Now, as the economy begins to improve, we need to do more of that and reflect it in the best way we can.

I have also pointed out that in the statement of economic strategy for the period ahead, the Government intends to set up a commission dealing with low pay so that there will be proper transparency and discussion about that. Attention will also be given to the very high rate of tax of 52% that is paid by middle and low-income workers in order to restructure that over a number of budgets. These will all be advantages to various people and will go some distance to bring about that necessary social repair.