Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

Like Deputy Ring, I was amazed at the reaction from Government backbenchers. In other years I put it down to the fact that the budget speech took place close to Christmas and that they were a little delirious in anticipation of Santa Claus, but this year there is no excuse for that. The only thing I can put it down to this time is that they do not realise the full impact of what they are doing.

This levy sets aside the boast of the Government every year at budget time that many people were taken out of the tax net. They are now put back into it again — well, truly and firmly. A widow on €35,000 or €40,000, for example, would receive a widow's pension but would have part-time work to supplement it. Obviously, the widow's pension will not be hit with this levy but the employment will be. It is extraordinary that such a person could be hammered in this way.

I will not go down through the new names given to the victims in the budget speech. However, one of the matters that comes to mind is that at the same time this hit takes place on that vulnerable sector of the community, they may have one or two children due to go to university and if they are on income of over €43,000, they will receive no higher education maintenance grant so they will be hit in that way.

I do not think Government backbenchers fully understand how close to the margins that group in society are living at present. In addition, some of these same people have an excessive mortgage and are experiencing extreme difficulty in paying it. They are getting no relief there whatsoever as the measure will be broadly Exchequer neutral. The group in this income area is being clobbered. They may have thought they would get relief from this budget, but they are getting nothing. They are just getting it in the teeth.

It is extraordinary that a group of people who previously carried the weight of responsibility, who worked hard, who tried to put bread on the table, to provide themselves with a home in difficult circumstances, will now be affected by a levy that is totally indiscriminate in that it affects everybody.

I am appalled, not only at the reaction of the backbenchers who stood up and applauded when the budget speech was over. I wonder will they stand up and applaud in their constituencies in the next few weeks. I hope they will take responsibility for their actions here and beyond.

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