Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)

I commend the Sinn Féin Party motion. It is excellent and I will support it.

If the Government wants to save money in social welfare it should examine rent allowance. The system must change in order that the tenant is incentivised to get the best possible value. Under the current system a tenant in my home town who is paying €90 per week receives a subvention of €59.60. However, if the person discovers he or she could rent an equivalent property for €70 he or she would receive no benefit. All that will happen is that the subvention will be cut by €20.

In order to incentivise people to get the lowest possible rent they should be allowed to keep a percentage of the difference, thus benefiting the welfare recipient and the State while at the same time bringing rents back to their real level. Given that the bill for rent allowance is over €500 million it would result in massive savings for the Exchequer. It would not please landlords but what the hell. At the same time it would spare the most vulnerable in our society.

Instead the talk is about cutting children's allowance by €10 per month. When I was growing up children's allowance was used to pay the electricity bill. I remember when my oldest brother left home we had serious trouble paying the ESB bill. It is not a nice feeling when one is a young child. This is what will be imposed on people.

The credit union survey states clearly that 25% of people have less than €70 after all their bills are paid. The Government now proposes to take another €10, €20 or €30 from such people. It cannot be done and the Government should not do it.

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