Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

I am not surprised at the Ceann Comhairle's hesitation in calling me to speak, particularly when one considers this is a Government slot. Nor am I surprised by the Minister of State's reaction when he looked behind him and discovered that there is no one present on the Government side to contribute to the debate on this crucial legislation.

The position was the same last evening, which is understandable because people might not have expected the debate to run late and they may have gone home or left to attend meetings. However, the fact that this has happened twice seems to indicate that it is a deliberate attempt to collapse the debate on the Bill. Were it not for the efforts of Deputy Michael D. Higgins last night, the debate would have collapsed. If that had happened, there would have been newspaper headlines to the effect that the Government could not even provide a speaker to ensure the debate on this crucial legislation, which will shape people's lives for the next 12 months, did not collapse. All this takes place despite the fact that a guillotine is due to be applied to the Bill at 3.30 p.m. There are members of my party and others in opposition who would have relished the opportunity to contribution to this debate. The Government has set out to stifle debate on this legislation in the same way it deliberately did not send in speakers on the Private Members' motion on the same subject. That is a dangerous precedent and if it lies within the remit of the Ceann Comhairle, he should speak to the Government Chief Whip about it. It should not be allowed to continue without at least the Opposition being told that the Government wants the debate to collapse unless the Opposition supplies speakers. Hopefully that will never happen because usually enough of us want to speak.

For many years the story about social welfare was that the Government threw money at it without looking at the underlying structures. Every time there was a problem or a group became disgruntled, the Government put more money into it. Now, when huge numbers need support, the Government is withdrawing funds from social welfare.

I always maintain that budget day is a day for headlines and not news. The detail is in the Finance Bill and the Social Welfare Bill. This Social Welfare Bill contains one of the sneakiest cuts I have ever seen and we have had enough of them from different Fianna Fáil Governments. This cut means the Government has decided that people who have worked for years, and who have paid their contribution to the social fund so that it would be there to support them when needed, will no longer get jobseeker's benefit for 15 months, but only for 12 months. Coupled with the removal of the Christmas bonus, it means there are people who have recently become unemployed who will be long-term unemployed by November and not alone will they have lost three months jobseeker's benefit, they will also lose the Christmas bonus. It is outrageous. That attitude to social welfare must be addressed. Social welfare is not a discretionary payment, it is a system to support those who cannot support themselves.

The health levy has been doubled. For a family on €40,000, not a large amount these days, it will mean €66 a month less, on top of losing mortgage interest relief, income levies and all of the other things coming down the road. The early childhood supplement is to be halved this year and removed entirely next year. People do not know what is coming next. These measures are included in this legislation, for which the Government chooses not to supply speakers, ensuring the collapse of the debate, bringing it to a vote as soon as possible. What is the point in talking about it?

When the early childhood supplement was first introduced, the Labour Party said the money should have been used to establish a system to give every child a place in pre-school education. The Government disagreed. People were offered a choice between money in their hands or a system where children were given pre-school places and naturally the popular thing to do was to give people the money. The right thing to do, however, was to put in place a system whereby every child in the country received pre-school education. Now the Government is taking away the early childhood supplement but says it will put in place pre-schooling. It will not happen because the pre-school places do not exist and the money does not exist to invest in them. Such tricks will not work.

The unemployment figures are not true. There are tens of thousands more who are unemployed but who are not registering because they were forced by their employers to take out C2s and C35s. They were told they were to become self-employed. The employer would continue to give them jobs and supply them with materials but they were to employ themselves. The employer as a result had no responsibility for any of the protections, such as pension, PRSI or health and safety, and employees were forced into the position because they were told they could find work elsewhere if they did not want to do that. That was how the construction industry was structured, leaving nowhere else for employees to go. All of those people, because they did not pay contributions, are not entitled to a penny. These are not the massive developers who bought land in Ballsbridge for €54 million an acre, they are people who worked on building sites, doing the work the Government drove them to do. They have no nest egg, there is no villa on the Costa Brava for them and there are no assets. These people do not owe €30 million to Anglo Irish Bank. They have been left penniless and the Government must do something to rectify that. It is outrageous that they have been pauperised. They have families and commitments but now they have no work and no entitlements. It was an outrageous scheme in the first place and we must pick up the tab now.

When the Government decides not to allow TDs to speak on this legislation, it is saying to those who find themselves in a queue outside the labour exchange or queuing to see overworked community welfare officers that it is not interested and it does not want to discuss the issue. It is telling them to go away. The Government failed these people when they were working and it is failing them now when they are unemployed.

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