James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)

This Bill could be more aptly described as the "Hanafin Anti-Welfare Bill 2009". It is an exercise in removing essential allowances for low and middle income families. To make good the gaping hole in the Exchequer caused by blatant Government squandering and mismanagement of the country's public purse, the Minister for Finance has once again hit those least able to bear the brunt. This is evident on doorsteps throughout the country. The Government should be ashamed of how it is treating the most vulnerable in society.

Since the emergency budget, the Government has shown itself to be out of touch with the reality of people's lives. The Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance seem incapable of singing from any hymn sheet other than the one that advocates screwing the low and middle income groups so far into the ground that the life blood is squeezed out of them while leaving the high earners relatively unscathed. I was sickened and outraged to hear Deputy O'Rourke supporting the screwing of the poor and the less well off, many of whom are in our constituency of Longford-Westmeath, which probably has the country's highest unemployment rate. Since this time last year, Longford-Westmeath's unemployment figure has increased by more than 88%. This shows how out of touch she is with the realities of the constituency that she was supposedly elected to represent.

In 1988, Margaret Thatcher stated, "I believed passionately that the Government should never have too much power because if you give them too much power they meddle in everything, make a mess of it and make wrong judgments." That is what is happening with the present Government. This country is suffering from the effects of a Government that has been in office too long, is too committed to cronyism and is too wrapped up in the trappings of power to see the plight of the ordinary worker. It is a Government that has fallen into every trap of crisis management and is compounding one mistake with another as it tries to run for cover at every opportunity. It is digging a hole for itself as I speak and the electorate will testify to that on 5 June next.

Mrs. Thatcher's words are extremely apt when one thinks of the fall-out since the 2009 budget last October and the compounding of the problem with the latest emergency budget. It is shameful that low-income earners, such as those on €15,000 per annum, are subject to a 2% income levy by a heartless Government showing how out of touch it is with the ordinary man and woman in the street. Moreover, low-income earners on €25,000 will be further hit with the doubling of the health levy to 4%. What form of anti-poverty strategy is this? So much for promises to protect those who are at risk of poverty or are below the poverty line. The Government is doing absolutely nothing.

In an extremely anti-child and parent budget, the early child care supplement and child benefit have come under severe attack. Child benefit is the bread and butter for many parents who find the current economic crisis hard to cope with. For many women, the loss of child care benefit will prevent them from working outside the home as they will not be able to afford child care. This will increase the risk of poverty. I again ask whether Deputy O'Rourke understands that moves to tax or means test child benefit will pit woman against woman in terms of opportunity and will open the doors to wider social inequality.

Every day in my constituency of Longford-Westmeath, I see at first hand the lack of regard the Government has for children and their parents. In a move calculated to leave hard-working and hard-pressed parents without help in caring for their physically disabled children, the Health Service Executive, HSE, is closing Teach Solas, the Longford respite centre and handing it over to an outside agency. Many of the workers and parents received notification to this effect yesterday. What reward is this for parents who save the State millions by looking after their children at home and deserve and need the chance of a break while their children are being looked after by dedicated staff in such a facility? What has happened in this regard constitutes shameful and disgraceful carry-on by the Government. Were this to happen in Russia or other countries, Members would condemn them for so doing. However, I am sorry to state that this is taking place in the heartland of Ireland. These parents now are angry and frustrated and fear that the new service provider will enforce charges for this care, which they urgently need for their children. I am disappointed with the Minister who I thought was a more caring Minister who was more in tune with issues in respect of women, children and those who work in a voluntary capacity in society.

How can the Government justify the cruel withdrawal of the Christmas bonus for the most vulnerable in our society? The pressure on low-income families during the festive season is unbearable. Without the additional help of the bonus, many will be unable to withstand the commercial pressure. Older people, many of whom live alone in fuel inefficient houses, will be colder and poorer next winter unless this heartless decision is reversed. Even Charles Dickens could not have envisaged a Government policy that would, Scrooge-like, take a little Christmas cheer from those in poverty, while avoiding hitting the well-off with measures such as reduced tax relief on private pensions. In effect, the elimination of the bonus is akin to a 2% cut to the most vulnerable.

The crumb of hope held out by the Minister, Deputy Hanafin, that the Christmas bonus will be restored if there is a windfall in the Department's coffers is akin to holding out a straw to a drowning man or woman. According to John Curry, social policy is defined as: "Those actions of government which deliberately or accidentally affect the distribution of resources, status, opportunities and life chances among social groups and categories of people within the country and thus help to shape the general character and equity of its social relations". The Celtic tiger served to make the rich richer and those who never benefited from the boom years now are being forced to pick up the tab of the Galway tent cronies and champagne guzzlers who still exist within the Fianna Fáil Party.

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