Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)

This Government has been in power for nearly a decade and must be judged at election time, not on this budget alone but also on all its previous failures to eradicate poverty in this State. In a period of unprecedented economic growth, the Government has failed miserably to redistribute the State's wealth to all those who helped generate it and who need it most.

I watched in disgust yesterday as Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats Deputies cheered the Minister for Finance and patted themselves on the back, giving the impression that in this extremely wealthy state in which there is no poverty. I listened to the Tánaiste give us a lesson on the Constitution earlier this afternoon, reminding us there is a constitutional obligation on the State to provide for the disadvantaged in Irish society. One hopes that he will one day take a break from his rhetorical pontificating to set about discharging this obligation.

The reality is this Government continues to reward higher earners and widen the gap between the hundreds of thousands of Irish workers who produce the wealth of this economy and the thousands who profit from it. The headline in this morning's edition of The Irish Times accurately sums it up — "Highest Earners Biggest Winners". A flurry of social welfare increases, which in the context of such a massive surplus cannot be described as anything other than minimalist, is not enough and many major issues were ignored completely.

There was nothing in the budget to deal with food poverty, for example. In 2004 Combat Poverty, Crosscare and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul published a report entitled Food Poverty and Policy, the findings of which suggest food poverty is a real and significant issue for low-income households. Based on 2003 data, up to 10% of the population in this State, 375,000 people, can be considered at risk of food poverty. This increases to 15% of children, 125,000 of the most vulnerable people in our society. There was no mention of increased funding for meals on wheels, despite the findings of recent research that almost one in five older people admitted to hospital are undernourished.

Another area ignored by this budget was the plight of some of our newest arrivals to Ireland. I am particularly disappointed the budget did not abolish the habitual residency requirement for child benefit. The poverty experienced by the low-paid migrant workers who are increasingly crucial to this economy, as well as refugee families, has been exacerbated by the introduction in May 2004 of the habitual residency conditions which deny child benefit payments to newly-arrived asylum seekers. The requirement is a disgrace. While higher-income families get child benefit, some of those who most need it are prevented from getting it.

Refugee families were noticeable by their absence from the budget yesterday. Asylum seekers are forced to depend entirely on the direct provision system, which is hostel accommodation, full board and a weekly payment of €19.10 for adults and €9.60 for children. Most galling of all for those people in receipt of direct provision is that they are willing to work but are not permitted to do so. Many are educated or skilled people forced to leave their home countries, yet the Government insists on seeing them as an unpalatable burden, to be thrown a few coppers and kept in hostels instead of allowing them to work and contribute to this society while a determination is made on their case. This discriminatory system has been described as leading to physical, economic and psychological marginalisation of refugee families. It results in these families experiencing poverty and having to cope with difficulties clothing and feeding themselves and their children.

Earlier, the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Ó Cuív, spoke eloquently about how much this budget delivered for carers reminding the Opposition, when I suggest it is the Government which needs reminding, of the importance of carers to Irish society. While the increase in carer's allowance and the respite care grant must be welcomed, the reality is that full-time carers who do not receive the carer's allowance due to the means test are no better off today than they were before the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, stood up. Ireland's carers, who provide 3.5 million unpaid hours of care every week and contribute more than €2.1 billion to the social economy, have campaigned for an end to the means test for years. They were left bitterly disappointed again by this Government.

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