Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

This is probably the most unequal and unjust budget I have seen in my time in this House. We know the reasons for this. A widow under 66 years of age will lose €8 from her payment. I have never understood why younger widows are discriminated against in this way. My sister was widowed at the age of 34 and left with six children. Why was she not entitled to the household packages, when she needed them far more than those who had their families reared? I do not begrudge social welfare to anyone. It is so little and so difficult to live on.

There is a saying in Cork that one never sees the poor at sales. That is because they do not have that spare money the rest of us have to get a bargain, because all their money is accounted for. The €8 that has been removed from their income this week is €8 out of the €20 that is put away every week for gas and electricity. There will be cutbacks. These people will not be outside the gate. They will cut back on food, heating, clothing and on the luxuries, little as they were, that they had.

I want to talk about a group of people who are, somehow, not mentioned. When legislation is said to be in the national interest, it is as if this entire group of people are not part of the nation and do not figure in the national interest. This is the group of people I come from, among whom I grew up and lived and whom I still visit every weekend of my life. It is the working class, who have been convinced, since the foundation of the State, that they are, somehow, not as worthy. They are less worthy. They will take their €8 hit and be grateful for the little they will get. This nationalist State - not this Republic - calls upon these people when times are good to go and work and sustain the economy, and when times are bad it is their fate to be unemployed and to be treated like this by the Government. The nationalist State has convinced them that they are not worthy. They are the people whose schools do not get the resources given to schools in other areas. Their children do not get the education they deserve and need, and they are convinced that this is their lot in life.

I listened to Deputy Mary White tell us about equality. She has fallen into the same middle class trap as others in this regard. Equality is not just about gender. It is about class, finance, education and health. If Deputy White produces a Bill that will allow more women to be elected to the Oireachtas, I will be the first to congratulate her. My only aim in life is to have more women in positions of power so that we can deal with the deep inequalities in Irish life and convince people in areas where there is true deprivation that they are worthy and should get a better deal for themselves. They should demand a better deal for themselves.

Some €8 is to be taken off a blind pension or from a carer's allowance. The carer's allowance is an anomaly within the social welfare system. It is the only social welfare payment for which one must work. Carers must work seven days a week-----

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