Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I oppose section 1. It clearly facilitates the proposed cuts to welfare payments for young people, cuts that are totally unacceptable. I ask the Minister to consider that these young people have been in education for up to five years, they have significant skills and if they cannot go to work, it is not because they do not want to, clearly they do. They want to get on with their careers, to begin saving and building their lives. Unfortunately the Government is now telling them they must take a six week course that is probably considerably below their skill levels.

We must ask, therefore, what is the motivation behind these proposals. It is clearly designed to facilitate these young people going abroad. Internationally, Canada is one of the few places where there might be employment, or indeed Poland. Any of the other traditional hunting grounds for work for the Irish - Britain, the US, Australia - are all under pressure themselves.

The Government is not just guilty in this Bill of forcing young people away from Ireland but of forcing them into further difficulties, something that is completely unacceptable. The courses on offer are largely short courses in FÁS and I wonder what will be the outcome of its budget cuts with regard to these courses.

Young people want to go to work; they do not want to be hanging around home or around the town because they did the training for work and pursued an education. It is the fault of the Government that they are unable to pursue a career because the Government sleepwalked through ten to 12 years of an economic boom during which little or no infrastructure was put in place. It allowed the property bubble to expand and this is what has us where we are.

I will conclude because other speakers are indicating and we will facilitate them even if the Government will not. One of the biggest hurts in this whole package of budgetary measures is the penalising of people with medical cards by forcing them to pay for medication when there was another way. The Government could have talked to the GPs who are writing the prescriptions for excessive medications and not the poor people on the other side of the desk. The Government is putting its hand into the pockets of people who demonstrably, are in need, by virtue of the fact they hold a medical card under very stringent criteria for its possession.

See this speech in context