Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

Táim lán sásta deis a bheith agam caint san díospóireacht seo. There is something incredibly and predictably depressing in the Government's position as articulated by the Minister of State, Deputy John Perry, this evening and by the Minister of State, Deputy Willie Penrose, last night. They tell us they want value for money - that is code for more cutbacks. They tell us they want to improve service provision - that is code for job losses. Finally, to beat Banagher and put the final gloss on it all, the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, tells us that in the face of cutbacks, the loss of services and an economic catastrophe, taking further pain will mean the community and voluntary sector and the communities it serves will emerge more resilient. It is mind-blowing stuff.

I cannot take seriously a Government or Minister who tells communities which are historically deprived and now under great pressure that more pain is good for them. Here is the newsflash - pain is not good; pain is bad. The suffering is real and the cutbacks are devastating services. We will oppose the Government amendment to our motion. It is a disgrace, with its laughable references to "reducing duplication" and streamlining. That undertaking is neither genuine nor credible. The amendment is simply code words and cover for the cuts that have been imposed and the further cuts that are proposed. The Government, by way of this amendment, brazenly abdicates its responsibility and hands it over to philanthropists and to corporate, private money. The amendment makes no reference and offers no commitment in respect of ring-fencing or protecting funding. That tells the tale in terms of the Government's agenda.

The Minister of State, Deputy Penrose, told us last night that he cannot ring-fence moneys from the dormant accounts fund for the community and voluntary sector. He told us, and this is astonishing: "It must be stressed that moneys disbursed from the fund increase Government debt levels". It is beyond my comprehension how any Minister, in particular a Labour Party Minister, can stand over that kind of mechanical, bean counter response to the funding crisis in the community and voluntary sector. I hope the Minister understands that a simple amendment to the legislation could move the bulk of the dormant accounts fund liabilities off the State's balance sheet. It is not rocket science. It can be done.

Politics is all about choices and for us in Sinn Féin it has to be about choices that are fair. The dormant accounts fund is made up of citizens' money. It makes sense, therefore, that that money be ring-fenced and put back into the communities where citizens live.

Last night the Minister, Deputy Penrose, mentioned philanthropy 15 times, and this Minister has done it again this evening. Fifteen times we were told that the philanthropists will come in and save the day but not once did he make a comment, recommendation or offer a view in respect of ongoing funding. I understand that Fine Gael has a slash and burn approach to this sector. Small government is what it does and it is pretty much every woman, man and child for themselves unless one is a political adviser to one of the bigwigs, and then it seems that money is not a problem. However, the Labour Party, whose members are not present, know full well the devastation facing communities the length and breadth of this State and they know that particularly here in Dublin because we meet the Labour Party TDs and Ministers at all of the community events, the public meetings and the forums. Yet, despite a long-term relationship with these groups, Labour Ministers are turning their backs on this sector and, in turn, on the communities they serve.

In my own constituency the Inner City Partnership was closed down last year and the Labour Ministers have done nothing to right that wrong. To add insult to injury, community development sector workers are being laid off across the board with few or no rights and entitlements and the mere discussion of the budget causes fear and uncertainty.

The irony is that many of those communities voted for Labour with an expectation that its members would stand up for their right to fair play and that they would protect them from the worse excesses of Fine Gael in Government but week after week Labour Ministers sit on the Government benches dogmatically enforcing what we all thought was Fine Gael policy. Labour in government has thus far failed spectacularly to protect the very people it purports to represent. It pursues an agenda of cuts at all costs while feathering it own nests with disgracefully high salaries but that seems to sit okay with them.

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