Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Today is the last day in existence of the Combat Poverty Agency. Whatever reason the Government had to abolish this agency, it is not because it has put an end to poverty. Last Wednesday I raised with the Taoiseach the problems faced by poor people in my constituency — people who have recently been hit by poverty — in accessing the emergency social welfare service operated by the community welfare officers. Today there is still no community welfare officer in Dún Laoghaire. We are told the officer will not be back until 13 July and no cover has been provided. Neither is there any cover for the community welfare officer in Loughlinstown, who will not be back until 14 July.

This service operates for people who have no money. Does anybody in the Government understand what it is like to have no money? One cannot use a credit card because one does not have one; one cannot go to the ATM because one does not have a bank account, or there is nothing in it. The only place one can go if one has no money is to a community welfare officer. In my constituency, which I share with the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, who is sitting beside the Taoiseach, people who have no money are now being told there will be nobody to provide them with money until 13 or 14 July. I raised this last week and nothing was done about it.

Meanwhile, the message that people who have little or no money have been getting over the weekend is the orchestrated leaking of the report of an bord snip nua. We are told it is intended to reduce the social welfare bill by €1.5 billion, which represents a cut of slightly over 7% on basic social welfare payments. This means that a person receiving €204 per week, which is less than €11,000 per year, would have his or her weekly payment cut by about €14. These are the stories we have been hearing over the weekend.

Can somebody ensure that the community welfare service operates efficiently throughout the country and that there is somebody there to meet and hear the needs of people who have no money? Will the Taoiseach give an assurance to pensioners and people on basic social welfare payments that their payments will not be cut?

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