Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

Gabháilim mo bhuíochas do Pháirtí an Lucht Oibre as deis a thabhairt dom labhairt ar an rún rí-thábhactach seo ag déileáil le na laghduithe ar thaobh leasa shóisialaigh.

Ar dtús báire ba mhaith liom déileáil le iarracht a dhein mise leasú a dhéanamh ar leasú an Rialtais. Fuair mé litir ón Oifig an Cheann Comhairle ag rá nach bfhuil sé ag glacadh faoi na rialacha de thoisc, mar a deireann sé:

...on the grounds that it is an alternative amendment and is the equivalent to a direct negative. The purpose of the amendment can be achieved by opposing the Government Amendment when the Question is put.

Ins an leasú a bhí mé ag cur chun tosaigh, ghlac mé leis go raibh dul chun cinn déanta ó thaobh cúrsaí leasa shóisialaigh. An rud a dúirt mé ins an leasú ná:

-----recognises the overdue improvements made in recent years.

I went further in the amendment to repeat essentially what was in the Fine Gael motion. That is probably why I overstepped the rule, which is slightly at odds, however, with practice over the years. The end of my proposed amendment stated:

-----notes that after budget 2010 the weekly rate of payment for the disability allowance and the carer's allowance will be 6.1% less when the withdrawal of the Christmas bonus is taken into account...

This needs to be borne in mind as well because it is not just about the cut announced last week. I believe, as the Deputies on this side of the House have said, that the cut in social welfare should be reversed. There was an alternative, and we have put forward ways of funding social welfare payments. This is one of the key issues in all of this debate and if it is not addressed, we will be back in the House discussing it again next year. Given the record of the Government, it will be coming back with further cuts. However, I am not sure that Fine Gael, if it was in power, would not be coming back with social welfare cuts also. We need to be careful in that regard too.

The reason I say we will return to this next year is that it is inevitable in the absence of a stimulus package that has some type of logical approach to the creation of employment. The creation of employment will give rise to taxation and funding for the Exchequer to deal with those unfortunate enough to have to depend on social welfare. Some of last week's cuts will lead to further unemployment and, in fact, some of the cuts relating to this motion will also lead to that inevitability.

I do not believe social welfare payments needed to be touched. The Government could have taken many alternate measures to make certain the money flowed and ensure that we had the ability to reduce the deficit without hurting the most vulnerable, those dependent on social welfare and those living in poverty in many cases.

A third tax rate could have been introduced and the PRSI ceiling could have been abolished. The tax breaks, which have been abused for many years by high earners, could have been abolished. A new wealth tax could have been introduced and the Government could have stopped public money being pumped into private health care. Those options are not new. They were included in our pre-budget submission this year, as some of them were in previous years. It is not as if the Government did not have time and effort at its disposal and that these proposals were sprung on it at the last moment. It had well over a year in which to consider such options and it did not do so. Instead, it took a decision not to introduce the initiatives Sinn Féin proposed. Other parties and organisations outside the House came up with further suggestions. The fact that the Government refused to adopt them meant that it took a conscious decision to attack social welfare recipients in particular. It paid no heed to the fact that many of those dependent on social welfare were waiting months even to get their entitlements. That is also a living disgrace.

The option taken by the Government is self-defeating because it will have an impact in terms deflating locally economies, because, effectively, it is taking the money out of people's pockets. The people in question do not hoard money, but rather spend it immediately. If they had more, they would spend more, because most of them are in debt. They spend it in the local economy on the services they purchase and the goods they need. The goods in question are food and heating in the main, as well as clothes for their backs. They do not save, unlike the well off, who were encouraged through SSIAs and the likes, as well as private pension schemes where the State has forgone enormous amounts of taxation by encouraging the rich to take out private pensions.

This budget will, in fact, cause poverty and impact on local shops and services, hitting the real economy. I believe this cut and many like it will lead to further unemployment. As I said, the Government should have invested in a stimulus package, and I do not believe it has done enough in this regard. Social welfare and the pay of low to middle earners should have remained untouched and this budget will, I believe, perpetuate the recession cycle. The problem is the economy, not the deficit. It has treated the deficit but has not dealt with the problems in the economy, which is a crucial consideration and what we should be addressing.

The Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan, at the start of the budget last week, told the country that the worst was over. I do not believe this for a minute and neither do the carers. Unless these cuts are reversed within the next year, family carers across the country will be hammered. They are outraged and bitterly disappointed at the Government's introduction of a 4.1% blanket cut on all social welfare payments. This equates, I believe, to €8.80 per week or €470 per annum for carers in receipt of the carer's allowance. We should bear in mind that these are the only social welfare recipients who have to work for their payment. They are providing full-time care in the home for the elderly, sick and disabled. Carers had already suffered a 2% decrease in welfare payments due to the abolition of the Christmas bonus this year.

The Minister, Deputy Martin Cullen, the former Minister for Social and Family Affairs, stated when he introduced the half-rate carer's allowance that the Government was committed to supporting carers and facilitating older people and those with disabilities to remain in their own homes as long as possible. He said that carers played a very valuable and much valued role in our society. After last week, I do not believe there is any recognition on the Government benches of the valuable and much valued role they play, because family carers already save the State more than €2.5 billion and provide more than 3.7 million hours of care in the home every year.

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