Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

We have a whole Disneyland of them in this Chamber. They are all speaking with a mighty voice in their constituencies and on the airwaves, for example, no lesser a man than Deputy Mattie McGrath who has just left the Chamber, about how wonderful they are in fighting for this, that and the other, but they are all going to meekly walk through the lobbies tomorrow. I would be very surprised if any of them do anything to protect their constituents from the budget.

As well as that, they have managed to distance themselves in some way. They have been using the third person rather than the first person. Deputy Kennedy referred to cuts that unfortunately had to be introduced as a matter of necessity, as if he had no hand, act nor part in introducing the cuts. It was like some divine body had come down to introduce the cuts and the poor unfortunate Fianna Fáil backbenchers had nothing to do with it. Someone else said he supported the Bill with sadness. Another speaker said he did not like the cuts. The fact is that they are elected to this Chamber to represent the people of this country and they had better take responsibility for what they are doing, namely, introducing the harshest budget that has ever been introduced. I do not think Earnest Blythe's actions are ahead of it.

Despite the fact that backbenchers and Ministers are claiming that they managed to save the pensioners, they have not saved them. Pensioners will lose the Christmas bonus as well and pensioners with medical cards will have to pay 50 cent for every prescription charge. I know many pensioners in my constituency who have up to ten items of necessary medication. Many of them have a number of long-term chronic illnesses, including diabetes, asthma, and heart conditions. They have to have their medication and they will be charged 50 cent for every prescription filled. The pensioners have not been spared either.

Many other speakers in the House have referred to widows, blind people and carers, who along with those with disabilities and above all children are the targets of the budget. Last night I argued vehemently against the reduction in the price of drink. When one takes the average row of not very expensive houses in Cork city, Limerick city, Waterford city or Dublin city or in County Roscommon, in deference to the Members present in the Chamber, the blind man in one house is hit, the carer in the next house is hit, the family with a number of children is hit, the disabled person is hit, and the man who sweeps the streets or the woman who does a bit of cleaning who are public sector employees at the lowest level are hit. The only person who is smiling is the man who drinks too much who is living in the last house on the street. He is the one who has been rewarded in the budget. He is being encouraged to spend another few bob in the pub because the price of drink has been reduced. Yet, the backbenchers and the Minister and her colleagues have the cheek to tell us that they had to make this choice; that there was no other option.

Of course there were other options. As my colleague, Deputy O'Shea has just said, the Labour Party spelled out clearly a series of other options that not just found the €4 billion but a little more than an extra €1 billion in order that we could have a significant job stimulus programme in the alternative budget we were presenting. In the context of the job stimulus programme that is so vital I wish to focus on young people. We are now, unfortunately, going to be breeding young people for the boat or aeroplane or whatever mode of transport people will use to emigrate. People will have to emigrate as they are not being given any incentive or help to stay in this country. If a person has the real possibility of a job, work experience or an appropriate training place then there is an argument for reducing their unemployment benefit or assistance, but the fact is that one in three young men in this country under the age of 25 is out of work. The minuscule number of training places does not address the issue. There is a sense of hopelessness among young people. Whatever else we need if we are to get ourselves out of the problems we are in in this country, that we were led into by Fianna Fáil led Governments in the past 12 years we will not get out of it if we do not give some hope and possibility for employment to young people. They have been savagely let down by the Government, as have the most vulnerable of people on low incomes.

It is all very well for leading economists and others to say that it is fair to cut welfare at more or less the same rate as ministerial salaries are being cut. I do not know if any of those people have tried to live on €196 a week. Deputy Thomas Byrne referred to the cost of living and price reductions. I do not know how many conversations they have had with the kind of people who have been telephoning me today. One man who lives in a village in County Limerick told me that his bag of coal has increased from €19 to €20 in the past year. It might be cheaper in the cities but he is living in village and he does not have any transport. He has a disability. A bale of briquettes has increased by 50 cent. His sliced pan is €1.83. He is a diabetic so he has to control his diet. He told me the cost of the kind of foodstuffs he has to buy. He simply cannot afford them on his disability payment. We are talking about real people. I have read much of the media commentary. Many media commentators have no idea what it is like to live on €196 a week. It is very easy to let it trip off the tongue. We have been listening to monopoly money about the banks earlier in the year. We were talking about billions. The ordinary person who is trying to live on very little money is being told he or she has to take a cut. These people have been listening to those kinds of figures earlier in the year and they are despairing of the possibility that anyone in the Government might even begin to understand their situation.

There are alternatives. The Labour Party has set out alternatives that would work, protect the weakest and those on low incomes and avoid the kind of poverty traps that are in the budget, which will become apparent as time goes on, especially for people with families on welfare who are going to find it extremely difficult to have any incentive to go to work because of the way in which child benefit in particular has been cut.

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