Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)

As the Deputy said, there are choices to be made. I am very conscious as I make this contribution that at the start of this week a homeless person was found dead on a street in my constituency. The Deputy is correct in saying that what we need to do is to find a way to ensure we can meet our requirements but in a way that is socially just and protects the vulnerable. In the coming days what the people think of the budget and their responses to it will become clear. I was very conscious in the run-up to it of a gigantic fear, particularly among the elderly, that there would be cuts in the benefits to which many hundreds of thousands were entitled and received such as child benefit, the State pension and other core payments. A feature of the legislation is that most of the core benefits, on which people depend to cope with the effects of poverty, old age and help them bring up their children, have been retained and remain unchanged. That is the result of the choices made by the Government.

Other changes were made, on one of which we touched, in respect of which the Government has made a decision to review, which is welcome. The changes will have to be studied and we will have to understand what their impact would be. There is a large number of community enterprise projects in my constituency and I very much understand the valuable work they do. If we are talking about putting in place every measure we can to ensure people are sustained when they are without a job and will have the ability to find one in the future, it is counter-productive to put in place measures that would undermine the viability of projects. I do not believe the measures included in the budget, in particular the measure discussed, will have the effect alleged, but the fact that it has been alleged means it is worthy of study. We must engage with those who have made these points to understand what can be done to mitigate the alleged effect.

In terms of the broader choices to be made, this is a theme with which the House will have to engage in the coming years. We need to debate issues such as the feasibility of introducing a wealth tax, about which I have genuine concern. I will voice my opposition to it, but that does mean there is not a need to debate the matter and understand the issues involved. I am concerned about the idea that there is a large amount of additional tax revenue that could be tapped into by increasing income tax, but we should have that debate. If we do not discuss such issues, we will make the greatest mistake of all in the eyes of the people, that we appear not to care and that we are not actively willing to engage on these choices. I am genuinely concerned that the possibility of a wealth tax being imposed could cause a huge amount on deposit to be withdrawn from the banking system which, in turn, would increase the risks and costs taxpayers would face. There are facts there to support this genuinely held view. In the context of the bigger choices our society has to make, we should find a way inside and outside the Oireachtas to discuss these points and decide what is right and of all the various options, which ones could be taken on board by the Government to ensure vulnerable people are protected amidst all the changes taking place.

In considering the Bill many who had experienced ferocious hardship following the last budget feared there would be cuts to many of the core benefits, but there was none. That is the reason I am supporting the legislation. However, I take Deputy Nulty's point that many of the measures announced in the budget were greeted with relief, but I accept that feeling was not shared by all. While I will support the Bill which will be passed, if there are concerns regarding its implementation, the very least we can do is to examine if there other ways of achieving savings to ensure we meet the targets set, while also protecting the most vulnerable in society, which is what we all want to achieve.

In listening to Deputy Nulty, I was struck by his sense of social justice. However, he does not have a monopoly of it. Nearly everyone involved in political life is in it because he or she is motivated by the idea of achieving social justice through public service. We may differ strongly on how we want to achieve it, but we have that point in common. In this Bill we have done all we can to strike a balance between the pressures on the economy and the needs of the people. For that reason, it is worthy of support.

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