Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

The Social Welfare Bill 2010 is a blatant and unjustified attack on the weakest and the working poor. Cutting basic social welfare rates by €8 per week for the second year in a row will have a devastating impact on people who rely on the State for income support. The Government has lost all sense of the fact that carers, widows, people with disabilities, single parents and the unemployed depend on their weekly payments for their very survival. Last year, it sought to justify social welfare cuts on the basis of the falling cost of living in some areas. No such excuse can be made this year. The decision to cut these basic rates cannot be defended.

Under this budget, a married couple with three children will lose €22.50 per week, or €1,200 annually. Families who are already struggling to keep their heads above water will undoubtedly go under if the Minister persists with these measures. Fianna Fáil is once again making the poorest in our society pay for its disastrous mismanagement of the economy. It is difficult to fathom how these measures will help recovery. The cut in the basic rates will result in extreme hardship for families who depend on social welfare and put further pressure on the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and other organisations which are already finding it difficult to meet the huge demand for their services. By proceeding with these cuts, the Minister will drive people into the arms of money lenders.

The Government clearly places no value on the contribution carers make to this country. Without the 24-hour service they provide the State would incur far higher costs. It is incredible that their income is to be cut once again even though they save the State money. There is fear among carers that the cuts will be exacerbated by the removal of other key supports in the health sector.

The Government's priorities are clearly wrong. How can it justify targeting people with disabilities, those on the blind pension and other vulnerable groups? Its decision to hammer these people is reprehensible and unjustified given that alternative means of balancing the books were available to it.

The new universal social charge is little more than a working poor tax. Combined with the reduction in the minimum wage, it will significantly impact on low paid workers. The new charge disproportionately affects certain sections of Irish society. It hits low income workers by significantly shifting the tax burden away from high earners and on to those on lower pay. It is regressive in the extreme. It will substantially raise taxes on all workers with an annual salary of less than €26,000.

Did the Minister consider the cumulative impact of the budget measures? The pay for a worker earning the minimum wage will drop by €40 per week, bringing full-time earnings on the minimum wage to €306 per week. A further €8.42 will be deducted for the universal social charge, bringing the worker's earnings to €299.50 for a 40-hour week. Imagine the indignity of receiving less than €300 for a 40-hour week. As a result of the budget, this worker will lose €48 per week. This imposition should be contrasted with the single self-employed high roller on a salary €1 million per year whose weekly take home pay will increase by €461 per week, or 5.2%, as a result of the budget. The Government will hand a millionaire an additional €461 per week while taking €48 from someone on the minimum wage.

The universal social charge is a tax by another name.

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