Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)

I wish to contribute to the debate by referring to a number of highly relevant comments made this morning by the Minister for Finance. He stated that no one had come up with proposals on where the €223 million in savings could be found. Clearly, he is not familiar with the Fine Gael document. I can find €300 million from direct measures that could have been taken and which would not entail pursuing the vulnerable. The use of generic, rather than branded, drugs in prescriptions would save €50 million while a carbon windfall tax on the ESB and other power generators would save €250 million. Members should recall that ESB charges comprise one bill that hits the vulnerable and the elderly who live on their own. While it receives free carbon credits from the State, it also charges hard-pressed people who are in receipt of social welfare or who have low incomes. These constitute measures the Government could have introduced, rather than going for the soft touch.

The Minister for Finance also claimed that Opposition Members were living in a bubble. The only bubble was the property bubble, which was created by the Government in recent years. It blew up the balloon, which burst like a water balloon and its tsunami effects on ordinary people include cutting the Christmas bonus to save €223 million. My constituency colleague in Limerick East, the Minister for Defence, Deputy O'Dea, will be aware that old people living on their own and lone parents will be obliged to go to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul or to moneylenders. The Christmas bonus allowed those in receipt of long-term social welfare who have children to buy presents for them, as well as allowing the elderly and people living on their own to afford the additional costs of fuel. Only this week, the queues at the social welfare office on Dominick Street, Limerick, extended as far as Parnell Street. Huge numbers of people now are queuing to claim social welfare, many of whom are in receipt of long-term social welfare, and they are being penalised for mistakes made by the Government in the past when it allowed the construction sector to run unchecked. The IMF has stated that stabilising Ireland's banking sector will require the highest percentage of gross domestic product, of the order of €24 billion, of any developed country.

I ask the Government to see reason and reinstate the Christmas bonus. I suspect it will be obliged to so do. It is morally wrong and, from a financial perspective, will affect the most vulnerable. I know this from visiting people who live on their own. While I acknowledge that people are abusing the social welfare system, others are barely getting enough on which to live. The Government must reverse this measure and shame on it for doing away with the Christmas bonus.

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