John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

Since entering Government we have argued publicly and privately that politicians must give an example to people facing tough times. Our political system must cost less to taxpayers and these measures are an important step. I welcome the ministerial pay cuts. A Minister's take home pay has decreased by 40% over recent budgets. Tax and PRSI changes for senior officials and public representatives, the creation of a ministerial car pool and not replacing a government jet are all matters which may in themselves not add up to a great deal in terms of expenditure but, in terms of symbolism, they are extremely important for the people.

On the question of welfare, I said previously and I say again that welfare cuts are a matter of regret to my party. We fought to avoid them but when we saw they were utterly unavoidable, we fought to keep them to a minimum and to protect the most vulnerable. Overall, we can take some small solace from noting that welfare payments are on average €2.20 higher than in 2007. The €40 cold weather fuel allowance payment is directly linked to the Green Party's role in the renewed programme for Government negotiations a little over a year ago.

These welfare cuts have become inevitable given the huge hole in the public finances and we know the reasons for that. The public finances are in a difficult situation. I listened to some of what Deputies Kenny and Gilmore said and in many cases that analysis is correct. We know, and it is recognised by people on the Government side as well, that these financial difficulties were caused by the property bubble and by the reckless lending of the banks. We also know that some of the policy decisions made in the past were not ones that should be repeated.

On the question of homelessness, something that is close to my heart, my commitment and that of this Government is to reduce the number of people who are homeless. That remains a priority despite the very severe financial difficulties. It is a strong feature of budget 2011 with an overall allocation of €53.4 million and while the overall housing provision has had to be significantly reduced over successive budgets, provision to tackle homelessness shows only a small reduction in 2011 and is down by €2.6 million. This will not affect the front line services because we are ensuring, through rationalisation, that we will provide a quality service. This is something that I know my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Finneran, is keen to pursue. I am proud of the sustained funding for anti-homelessness initiatives of €56 million in 2010 and €56 million in 2009, and in 2008 the funding level was €53.2 million. These were all years in which funding for most projects were radically cut.

On the other side of the equation, I am pleased about the inclusion of many of the tax reform measures recommended by the Commission on Taxation, which was set up at our insistence. Working families will consider anxiously today the tax changes. There is no disguising that they contain income losses for people already struggling to make ends meet, but independent observers, including the ESRI, have already commented that we have done a great deal in the past three and a half years to shift the taxation burden to higher earners. Some 25 tax reliefs, which have cost taxpayers millions in lost revenue each year, will be brought to an end.

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