Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

We are now in the course of an entrenched equality crisis which, like our society for years, is characterised by extreme income inequality, a gross concentration of wealth at the top and the persistent experience of discrimination among key groups, including lone parents, the non-Irish, people with disabilities and the unemployed. It is also characterised by the absence of any demonstrable Government ambition to achieve meaningful socioeconomic equality, the manifestly unfair distribution of the burden of economic recovery which has been laid on the shoulders of the vulnerable the low and middle income workers and the ever-increasing working poor, and the active dismantling of the equality and human rights infrastructure. This Government sought and achieved the demise of the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism, NCCRI, the elimination of the Combat Poverty agency, the sole independent agency responsible for those in poverty and for economic equality, and the decimating cuts in the budgets of the Equality Authority and the Human Rights Commission. The Government has further threatened those in the community and voluntary sector who advocate equality. The accountability of the State is being actively undermined. This trend must be reversed.

During times of recession the risk of discrimination and experience of inequality increase. Various studies demonstrate that equality is good for business. It increases productivity and is good for the country because it enhances social solidarity. The upcoming budget must be subjected to an equality impact assessment. It must be used as an opportunity to introduce an effective equality infrastructure incorporating anti-discrimination work and redistribution.

International income ratios are similarly grotesque. In 1980 the highest earning executives in the United States earned 33 times the average industrial wage. By the 1990s their earnings had increased and risen to 100 times the average industrial wage and by 2005 these high earners were taking home an income 50 times that of the average worker. This was replicated in Britain where the ratio of the chief executives' pay to that of average staff members was 98:1. The distribution of wealth and income in this State is obscene as the spectrum of income ratios has moved in a direction comparable with that of the US and Britain. Revenue figures demonstrate that 30% of all income earned in 2008 went into the pockets of just 6% of the population. Almost 1,500 people earned an average of €2.4 million each last year at a time when the average industrial wage was a little over €30,000 a year. The upcoming budget, and every budget thereafter, must consciously and actively work towards a radical reduction in this income gap. This is the patriotic duty of the Government. Excess wealth must be taxed. The grotesque expenditure of €50 million on a yacht or a helicopter or several holiday mansions, while people live in squalor and poverty, and those with special needs are denied special classes to save a fraction of this sum must be addressed. The Fingletons, Smurfits and U2s of this world must be made pay their fair share of tax.

The upcoming budget must rectify and reverse the recent Fianna Fáil and Green Party attack on children with special educational needs. Last month I received many e-mails from parents, teachers and students in my constituency who were angry, depressed and despairing at the abolition of the special needs classes. I visited several of the affected schools and saw the benefit of those classes. Now the Government is intent on consigning those children to the scrapheap again. This cut will directly affect hundreds of children who will lose the vital support they need to achieve a robust education. Thousands more children will be affected by the extraordinary additional pressure on teachers already working in overcrowded mainstream classes. Robbing children of their futures for a paltry saving of €6 million when executives of publicly guaranteed banks are walking around with €1 million bonuses and multi-million euro pensions is obscene.

I asked the Minister for Education and Science to point to an educational rationale to underpin this ruthless decision. He could not do so. He claims that the needs of these children will be adequately met in the mainstream classes with limited learning support. That is not true. He has no understanding of special needs or the educational system. Parents know best. One couple who contacted me said they know that this will have a detrimental effect on their child's education and social learning. Their son had been in a mainstream class in the past but a special class is without doubt the best place for him to learn, develop and thrive, to become a responsible and independent young adult reaching his full potential, an opportunity which should never be denied to any child. This budget should be used as an opportunity to reverse the cuts in special needs education and reinstate the classes for those with mild general learning disabilities.

The budget should also be used as an opportunity to raise fairly and progressively the revenues desperately required. It should be used to remove the pension levy which is manifestly unfair and creates real hardship for many already struggling to make ends meet. In addition to putting people's homes at risk, it diminishes the spending power of a significant number of those who remain in employment thus further stifling the economy and resulting in more job losses in the private sector. The levy never concerned pensions. It was a form of unfair and selective taxation. Certain categories of workers subject to this levy will derive no additional pension benefit, for example, many fixed-term contract workers, including researchers. It also hits local councillors although they do not receive a salary, and the income of the brave retained fire service workers who are paid only when called out.

The Minister has an interest in overseas development aid, ODA, and attended a briefing on the matter earlier today. I appeal to him not to cut ODA. This is a matter of life and death for many around the world whom Ireland has thankfully helped in the past. We have an opportunity to continue to do so. I urge the Government not only to retain but to increase the ODA figure thus achieving the promised 0.7% of GDP sooner without having to put in a large extra sum of money. By doing so we will set a standard not only for ourselves but also for the European Union and our partners there and in the rest of the developed world. We will send a message of solidarity to those who are much worse off than us even in this recession. We have traded on our flathiúileachas and our reputation worldwide. We have been generous and do not have the imperialist past that many of our neighbours do. We can embarrass them and force them to follow our lead. We should not be selfish. We can save lives, improve human security and increase goodwill for Ireland.

I dtaca leis an Ghaeilge, ón méid atá cloiste agam, tá ciorruithe de bhreis is 20% i gceist do chuile eagras Gaeilge. Má smaoinítear ar an méid a chaitear ar mhadraí agus ar chapaill rása i gcomparáid leis an chaiteachas ar eagrais Ghaeilge, is léir cá bhfuil tosaíochtaí an Rialtais. Caithfear díriú ar chosaint a dhéanamh ar an Ghaeilge agus ar an Ghaeltacht go háirithe san am seo mar ní ghá ach féachaint ar an staidéar teangeolaíochta a rinneadh le déanaí chun an dainséar don teanga náisiúnta a fheiceáil. Caithfear déanamh cinnte nach gcuirfear leis an dainséar sin don teanga sa chruachás atá romhainn faoi láthair.

Now is not the time to cut budgets in the fight against illegal drugs. To do so would be detrimental to the justice programme and to the development of communities. Times may be hard but in the past recession has bred drug abuse for which society pays a huge price. We have an opportunity to at the very least retain the money dedicated to tackling the drug problem. That is my appeal to the Government. I hope people have been listening.

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