Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

People are also trying to survive on welfare and are also being hit by the Minister's changes. Working families with young children are just about keeping their heads above water as things stand, but from next week they will be hit by approximately €250 per month. That money is not there in family budgets. Something will give on this. There is no justification for imposing these levels of cuts at that level of income. It is wrong and the Minister should not be doing it.

The Labour Party pointed out a number of different areas where savings could have been made. I mentioned the outrageous pension schemes the Minister is allowing. It is wrong to do that and the Minister will hit very ordinary people on very modest incomes through the health levy. The Minister should not be doing that and should have directed the cuts at people who are well off and could afford it, such as those with multiple properties and landlords who receive major tax relief on their properties. There is no justification for that whatsoever.

There are tax exiles. There are umpteen different ways some kind of reasonable cap, such as €200,000, could have been on public service pay and stop the nonsense of heads of this or that body earning €300,000 or €400,000. There could have been measures to stop the nonsense of the salary levels in the banks. Instead, the Minister chose to hit people on modest and low incomes. It is wrong, she should not be doing it and she will cause major hardship by doing so.

See this speech in context