Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I move amendment No. 2:

To delete all words after "Dail Eireann" and substitute the following:

" ----- recognises the severe impact on families, individuals and communities as a result of the closure of businesses and loss of employment arising from the economic collapse caused by the policies of the previous Government;

-----recognises the vital role played by spending on social welfare in enabling people to live life with dignity;

-----acknowledges the contribution spending on social welfare also makes to sustaining economic activity in communities throughout the State and, in particular, notes that social welfare spending of €20.62 billion accounts for 13% of GDP and recognises the need to ensure that the current deficit in the Social Insurance Fund is addressed;

-----affirms that sustainable public finances are a prerequisite for maintaining an adequate system of social protection as well as achieving future economic growth and stability;

-----welcomes the steps taken by the Government to sustain existing employment, promote job creation and lay the foundation for economic recovery, in particular, the National Employment and Entitlement Service, the jobs initiative including the national internship scheme, JobBridge, Springboard, the halving of the lower rate of employer PRSI and the targeted lowering of VAT for the hospitality and tourism sectors;

-----welcomes the new anti-fraud initiative launched by the Department of Social Protection in September, 2011 and its importance in maintaining the integrity of the social welfare system; and

-----encourages the Government to press ahead with the other social welfare reforms outlined in the programme for Government and in particular to target the development of options and opportunities in education, training and work experience in order to help people to get back to work."

I am interested and intrigued by the fact that Fianna Fáil has finally raised the issue of social welfare in this motion. However, it is deeply hypocritical that the very party that did so much to bring this country to the point of collapse by its reckless spending should now seek to bring forward such a motion. When we came into Government and did the maths, we quickly realised that the country could not afford the bill that Fianna Fáil had left us. We realised we needed to put the funding of our social welfare system on a more sustainable footing. The alternative would be to leave the country where Fianna Fáil had left it, bankrupt and dependent on others for financial support.

This Government wants to restore our national sovereignty. We want to be in control of our own destiny by the time we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Rising in 2016. We want to be financially independent and to pay our own way but we have a way to go before our income matches our expenditure.

As the House is all too aware, the social protection budget grew in a particularly dramatic fashion over the past decade when Fianna Fáil was in power. In 2001, spending on social protection stood at €7.84 billion; by last year this had grown to €20.85 billion, an increase of 266%. To put that in context, inflation increased by around 30% during the same period. Some of the social welfare spending increases are down to the dramatic rise in unemployment since 2007, but the most significant factor is a surge in both rates and the number and size of schemes over a very long period of Fianna Fáil governance. Frankly, the increases in social protection payments were often cynically and very effectively timed to help Fianna Fáil win elections and this is certainly what happened. The party showed little or no regard as to whether the State could continue to afford to meet these Fianna Fáil promises.

The fact that these schemes were funded from unsustainable revenues caused by the housing boom appears to have been lost on the previous Government. As a result, we have inherited a level of social expenditure that is completely out of sync with the funding base of the State. Worse, even in the good times, Fianna Fáil distinguished itself by a wilful lack of ambition for the people who turned to the State for protection. I find it very difficult to remember that Fianna Fáil characterised so many people as being unemployable as well as unemployed. In its "spend it, when you have it" way, Fianna Fáil threw money around like confetti at a wedding. They doled it out without regard to the needs of their clients, many of whom would have benefited more from help with a job, education or training. As a result, our social welfare system has taken a largely passive approach. These are not my words but the words of a number of international commentators and of recent national reports. We allow people to receive certain benefits indefinitely. Under Fianna Fáil, there were only very limited sanctions for those who refused offers of work or training and often there were very few offers of work, training, back to education or work experience.

Over the past decade, most OECD countries have successfully introduced such policies while in Ireland there has been hardly any movement in this area. More is the pity, for the OECD has estimated that we would have entered the recession with 100,000 fewer people on the live register if Fianna Fáil governments had introduced such policies during the good times. When the recession hit, Fianna Fáil was the first to hit the low-paid workers with a cynical reduction in the minimum wage, which this Government immediately reversed upon taking office. I introduced the motion to reverse this decision.

See this speech in context