Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for the reports. As always, the reports we get from Social Justice Ireland and TASC are detailed on where choices can be made. Do the witnesses not feel that the debt burden we are carrying in this country is unsustainable? In order to pay back the debt, we will be in a similar situation to the current one year-on-year and it will not be resolved. That is a key question we must examine.

At this point, following five years of austerity budgets and with €24 billion being taken out of the economy, we must be more robust in speaking out in particular about areas of vulnerability. The point has been made that, to a certain degree, we in this country have been protected because of the strong social welfare system and that the true impact of austerity has not been felt. I fear the budget for this year and the next two years will have such an impact if the Government does not focus on those who have wealth. We must come out more strongly. I do not know the position of the witnesses on whether funding must be ring-fenced, in particular for those who are vulnerable. Prices are not coming down. The cost of gas has increased, which will have a knock-on effect on the cost of groceries. It has been a disastrous year for agriculture in this country, in Britain, Europe and parts of America. We must face the fact that we cannot hit certain sectors anymore. I agree with what has been said about job creation and where we get the money from. The United Left Alliance is not drawing up an alternative budget but a statement on where the money can be targeted from the wealth of assets that exist. We would also promote an increase in tax on earnings of more than €100,000. We could get anything from €1.8 billion to €3 billion from more progressive taxation on the wealthy. It will be an important call to ring-fence funding in order to protect the most vulnerable. Otherwise, they will be impacted by cuts to secondary social welfare elements.

It is proposed to take out €540 million from the social welfare budget this year. Where will that come from? It would be destructive to take anything from welfare payments to people who are at home because they lost their jobs but who want to be in work.