Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

The 2010 budget is the most socially divisive budget we have ever seen. It pits rich against poor, the employed against the unemployed, public sector worker against private sector worker and old against young. It was a "divide and conquer" budget and this social welfare Bill is the main instrument.

For the second budget in a row, the social welfare Bill will, incredibly, yield more savings for the Government than the finance Bill. Whatever happened to a Minister for Social and Family Affairs who would stand up for the poor? There is a long tradition among Ministers for Social and Family Affairs of fighting the corner of the less well-off. One thinks of previous Ministers, such as the late Séamus Brennan, who was not particularly interested in the social welfare area when first appointed but turned out to be a strong and effective advocate of the socially excluded.

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