Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)

I will be brief because we should get to as many amendments and sections as possible. At the time of the establishment of the Combat Poverty Agency I was a Member of the Oireachtas. I observed and was involved with the evolution of poverty proofing while working in the area of social policy. The purpose of the poverty proofing exercise that made its way into the Cabinet handbook was such that as the budget was being prepared the Government would be able to test the impact of a proposal on the affected or vulnerable group. That is totally different from preparing a descriptive scheme after the fact. The essence of the original Combat Poverty Agency proposal was to test the impact before it happened. Therefore, to suggest there will be a description some days after the budget leaves open the question of whether the principle has been sacrificed. It is a fact that since 1998 poverty proofing, in accordance with the Cabinet handbook, has been integral to the budget. It was the evidence that the budget had been so tested. There is a real difference and this requires an explanation, especially in a budget with such an impact on the very groups to which the handbook refers, namely, those in poverty and threatened with poverty.

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