Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I wish to share time with Deputies P.J. Sheahan, Ulick Burke and James Bannon.

It is very interesting to sit here in the House and listen to some of the rhetoric of the past few hours. What has brought us to this situation? It has been a combination of the builders, the developers and the bankers. They are the ones who have brought us to absolute catastrophe, not those on social welfare or those on the minimum wage in the public service. It is an extremely difficult social welfare Bill to speak on because it contains very savage choices. All parties accept there is a problem which has to be dealt with. The cutbacks in Government spending had to be implemented. However, we were promised by the Taoiseach and by others that the budget would be fair and that everybody would share but it is not fair. It is similar to the Fair Deal scheme for the elderly that the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, promised us. She said that the scheme would look after the elderly for the rest of their lives but we soon found out that was different and it has not even been delivered yet.

The first people to suffer in this Bill will be the blind, those on invalidity pensions, those on disability pensions and the widows and widowers. Another speaker is said to have stated that widows did not have a problem with the budget but they were not the widows who were ringing me. Can anyone suggest that these groups of people are in any position to deal with their income problems compared with those on full contributory pensions or above all, the bankers? Can anyone suggest that it is the fault of a widow, a blind person or a disabled person to be on social welfare? We have gone to a very low level of so-called fairness when these are the people who have to pay for the billions put into Anglo Irish Bank and which will be spent on further bank bailouts and on NAMA. I wonder where NAMA is today.

In the short time available to me I want to deal with issues close to my heart such as the problems of the self-employed and farmers. The Minister gave me a commitment in this House a few weeks ago and last spring, that self-employed and farmers would be judged on this year's income rather than on historic income but this is not the case. Different social welfare inspectors have made it clear to me and to customers that they have to deal with the current position. Only yesterday I received a call from a dairy farmer in County Cavan regarding his unpaid REPS. He told me he has financial difficulties. I asked him why he did not go to Farm Assist. He replied that he had tried but was told to come back at the beginning of next year when they would take into account the 2009 figures instead of the 2008 figures. That is the reality. I can name several other cases which I brought to the attention of the Minister. Another young farmer is supposed to have earned €32,000 on the mythical cattle he never owned but his income was only €14,000 and he has been told he does not qualify for anything.

This is an extremely serious situation. Farmers' incomes have dropped by 30% this year on top of a decrease of 11% last year. They cannot live on fresh air or on promises. The IFA and The Irish Farmers' Journal are publicising the availability of this scheme to farmers and that money is available through this scheme. Right across my constituency, whatever about anywhere else, although the IFA have told me the situation is similar elsewhere, it is not happening. While this may not be relevant to the budget it is relevant to people who need social welfare. I urge the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, as somebody who is familiar with life in the west of Ireland, to speak to the Minister. People are desperate.

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