Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

I wish to speak about social assistance schemes and, specifically, the farm assist payment. The rate of payment has been reduced from €196 to €188 per person. The qualified adult dependant allowance goes from €130 down to €124.80.

I speak for people on farm assist because they are farming very small holdings and live, for the most part, in remote rural settings. I am talking about parts of south Kerry, Connemara and Sligo and Donegal in the north west. They often farm marginal land. The fact that they are receiving the farm assist payment is proof that their incomes from farming are meagre. These people will now suffer from the reduction in the rate of farm assist. They will also be subject to increased charges to get their children to primary and secondary schools. These families take the bus because do not have their own transport. They will also be subject to the new universal social charge. Their farm income will bring them into the social charge band. While they may have been exempt from levies in the past, they are now being brought into the tax net. The universal social charge is not a charge. It is a form of taxation. These people will suffer from the cut in social welfare rates but also because the Government has developed this inequitable social charge.

We must speak for these people. It is clear that Fianna Fáil no longer speak for the marginalised people who live in rural areas. The message sent by the budget to these people is that they may have voted for Fianna Fáil all their lives but they, and their votes, will now be taken for granted. However, I can see from the number of calls I have received from people who are adversely affected by this budget that they are beginning to change their minds. No longer can one fool these people with false promises or take from them in a disproportionate fashion.

A millionaire makes a net gain from this budget while a person making a marginal income from a small farm makes a loss. A family with a child in university will be further caught by the new adjacency ruling for third level grant qualification. Why does the Government need to make these cuts? There is no level of equity in them. The person who shaped this budget cannot have thought laterally about how it would affect people on the margins.

In spite of our political differences, we were always a nation of people who sought to look after our most vulnerable. This universal social charge is grossly unfair. In normal times, we might have accepted the need to reduce payments for farm assist, for example. However, the universal social charge adds a further financial penalty for those people who are living on the margins.

The same is true of the cuts in carer's allowances and in other rates. Why must we consistently attack these people? There is no logical explanation for it. It is a disproportionate cut and is contrary to the canons of taxation. One is supposed to levy tax in an equitable fashion but that has not been done in this case. I accept that we are discussing the Social Welfare Bill, but taxation is pertinent to the argument. People who are earning money and are also in receipt of social welfare will suffer a double whammy because they will come into the net of the universal social charge as well as suffering a reduced rate of social welfare. I had a call today from someone who has a very marginal income and is dependent on a medical card, because of a genuine underlying medical condition. The person had an exemption from the levies but will not be exempt from the new charge. I have sought advice from colleagues as to whether such a person, despite the fact that the household has an income, should apply to the community welfare officer for a home heating grant in the coming months.

We should ensure that households with a marginal income are not penalised further. These people may be in their 30s and 40s and still making large mortgage repayments, which eats up a large part of their disposable incomes. Imposing charges of this nature on those people could tip them over the edge and force them to rely on community welfare officers or supplementary welfare payments in order to sustain life and limb.

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