Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)

People are hurting and their children, the victims, are going to school hungry. What we are doing about this? The choices made in the next budget will determine their future. The Proclamation of 1916 demanded that children be cherished and nurtured and given all that is needed for them to become fine citizens in a true republic. That document and those sentiments are at odds with the wisdom of punishing those who have no power or voice and had no hand in the destruction of this State's economy.

In case our comrades on the Government side are not aware, child benefit did not cause a European banking collapse. The payment is not the reason we are paying for a bailout of European bank debt, nor did it create the budget deficit. While it may be an uncomfortable obligation for the Government to perform, it cannot and will not be allowed to shirk its obligation to pay for the future of this country and not simply the salvation of European banking. Child benefit, the lone parent payment and other entitlements, payments and grants which go towards supporting children are the dressing with which we frame this argument, the essence of which is simply that we must nurture and cherish the children of our nation if we are to have a hope of building an economy and society.

The Government bemoans the fact that in 2010 it was required, through child benefit, to invest €2.2 billion in the children of this State. This money was spent on books, clothes and other expenses in the local economy, mainly on the basis that the State, since its inception, has failed to provide for school-going children. It decries this investment as a waste which we cannot afford. By the end of January, however, it will have given nearly €2 billion to unguaranteed bondholders in the space of three months and will defend this action to the hilt. It will, as it did at the start of November, stymie debate on this robbery of the public purse. If drawn on the issue, Government members will wring their hands and say, "It is not good enough". The Government must wake up to the fact that its duty is to the people of Ireland rather than to its adopted masters in Europe.

Sinn Féin has put forward other options in recent years. We outlined alternatives in a number of pre-budget submissions and brought them time and again to Fine Gael and the Labour Party. The trade unions have also put forward options. The Government has not capped the pay of top earners in the public sector nor ended the ministerial pension scandals. It has not introduced a wealth tax for millionaires or standardised tax relief. Rather than impose cuts on the wealthiest, it is imposing them on children. The Government has a choice and it should not choose to cut from struggling families who spend everything they receive on a monthly and weekly basis. It is not fair, it is not right and it does not work. After more than three years of this kind of thinking, we continue to have 450,000 people out of work and massive emigration. Over 100,000 people have left these shores in the past three years. Inequality is continuing to spiral massively. There is no sign of recovery or real growth. The number of people dealing with forced deprivation has doubled. This figure is even starker when one considers that, according to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, some 96,000 children do not enjoy an acceptable standard of nourishment, educational materials or social outlets as a consequence of this forced deprivation. How can the State stomach these facts? How can the Government allow these figures to be true? How can Ministers stand over the onslaught they have inflicted on the most deprived people in the State since last February? They are continuing the tradition of those who went before them and who created this mess. I urge the Minister to examine the alternatives that have been proposed by Sinn Féin, the trade unions and groups like the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. It is in the interests of the Government parties, including the Labour Party, to do so.

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