Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

Last week, in a type of rallying call, the Minister for Finance said we have turned the corner. Last year, he said it was no more than a call to patriotic duty but we have turned the corner away from Inchydoney, as Deputy Carey mentioned, and the mirage that was Fianna Fáil's social conscience because it brought in a budget that sought to take €108 million from people who have to work, as is the case with carers. There is no need for carers, like other people in receipt of social welfare, to sign on anywhere because they do not have time to sign on. I am regularly scheduled to meet two or three people in Wicklow but on occasions somebody does not turn up because they cannot get anybody to cover for them for an hour to allow them express what they do to a public representative. That is the reality these people live with every day, yet we have sought to take €108 million out of their pockets.

Fine Gael proposed, among other measures, that the rental accommodation scheme should be the priority as opposed to keeping people in receipt of rent supplement for longer than is necessary. Rent supplement is inefficient and is not as traceable as the rental allowance scheme which, among other things, places an onus on the landlord to be tax compliant with annual returns made every year. Any building that is sub-divided must have planning permission and meet building energy regulation standards. In all aspects, it is better value, a better all-round standard, and the market reality is reflected in the rent. Also, it is illegal for the landlord to charge the tenant anything other than the agreed price. At a cost of €500 million, that is a saving of a conservative figure of 10%.

Regarding people with disabilities, a person came to see me who needs €15,000 worth of home adaptation works. The application was declined by the local authority because it had no money to pay it. That person has taken out a credit union loan to fund that home adaptation. This is for an adult; I am not talking about the cost for a child. That person is approximately €12 a week poorer as a result of this budget when extra costs in prescriptions, fuel and the actual cuts in the payments are taken into account. That is almost €1,000 a year. That is the bulk of the repayment that person had set aside to make the necessary adjustments to their house to allow them live in relative comfort.

In 2004, the National Disability Authority estimated that it costs a person with a disability an extra €40 a week to live. The Government amendment to our Bill states that after budget 2010, the payments will be ahead of 2006 levels. The extra cost of €40 per week is still valid because that is what it costs a person with a disability to live on compared to a person without a disability, yet the Minister has engaged in a slash and burn exercise. She has not addressed inefficiencies in the system, fraud or the possibility of moving to a rental accommodation scheme. It is the same as when the Government was announcing increases in every sector and was providing good news on a continual basis. It did not perform either a cost-benefit analysis or an evaluation and now, on the way back down, the chickens are coming home to roost.

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