Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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John FitzGerald was responsible for a recent report by the ESRI which found that, over the course of the recession, successive Government policies, including those of the previous Government, had contributed to the fact that Ireland and Portugal were unique in reducing income inequality over the course of this recession. One of the contributory factors was that both Governments had maintained social welfare payments at a fairly high level. That was not the policy in Spain, Britain or Greece.
Patrick Honohan, Governor of the Central Bank, said in a speech that the group most detrimentally affected by the recession was people aged between 30 and mid to late 40s who bought houses with high mortgages at the top of the market. The Central Statistics Office has found that the people most at risk of poverty are families with young children and lone parents. The main group hit by social welfare cuts in recent years were jobseekers. One cannot get jobseeker's benefit for as long as previously. A jobseeker, like one in my constituency, getting €188 a week, with a mortgage, might live next door to a pensioner on €230 a week who has no mortgage. This is a sensitive issue but it needs to be said.
There was an op-ed in The Sunday Timeson 15 September – I remember the date because it was when the Labour Party had its think-in – by an economist who said that the elderly are among the most vocal groups about cuts in recent years but they have been the least hit. What is Mr. Timmins’ view of that?
Age Action has asked for an extra bit in the pension, restoration of the fuel allowance, increased living allowance, and so on. Is that not just the shopping list for ways to put money into people’s pockets at the expense of services? Would it not be better not to look for any of these things but to put the money into services instead in order that we do not make the mistakes we made in the past?