Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)

I note there are only three Labour Party Deputies in the Chamber. I assume their 34 colleagues will join them to vote against this motion later this evening. My party colleague Deputy Ó Snodaigh, the Sinn Féin spokesperson for social protection, referred to the Labour Party's 2009 Private Members' motion which had the same demands as tonight's Sinn Féin motion. When debating its motion in 2009, the Labour Deputies used emotive and passionate language. I would be particularly mindful of the comments made then by Deputy Joan Burton, now the Minister for Social Protection, and Deputy Róisín Shortall, now a Minister of State at the Department of Health. Their arguments for retaining child benefit were compelling and reflective of how much it is a stimulus to the economy. For a typical low or middle-income family with three children, a €10 reduction in child benefit may not sound much but over a year that would come to €360. That is a lot of money for an ordinary family in these difficult times.

I will not preach to the Labour Party Deputies opposite because they represent the same type of people I represent. However, during the general election the Labour Party published a poster on what Fine Gael would do to social welfare benefits and how Labour could be counted on to protect them. Will those three Labour Deputies here in the Chamber, along with the rest of their parliamentary colleagues, honour this commitment? Will they demonstrate a reduction in child benefit is a red-line issue for them in government? Will they defend the interests of those families and children who rely on this benefit to pay the bills every month?

Earlier today I, along with my party leader, Deputy Adams, challenged the Taoiseach to change the Government's focus on its macro-policy of bailing out Anglo Irish Bank's unsecured bondholders to the tune of €715 million recently and €1.2 billion next January. Even if this is a kite to soften the blow in the budget, it is a cruel exercise. I do not presume to have a monopoly over decency, nor do I wish to preach to Deputies. However, it is shocking and wrong not to stand up to our so-called European partners and refuse to pay international gamblers who purchased bonds in secondary markets while cutting child benefit which will affect the most vulnerable in our society.

Instead, the Government can put in place a 48% tax on those earning over €100,000 which would raise over €400 million a year. If the Government introduced a 1% tax on assets of over €1 million, excluding farm land and property, it would raise €800 million a year. The yield from these new tax measures would amount to €1.2 billion which the Government should not pay to unsecured bondholders. At the very least, the Government should put up a fight and become the squeaking wheel, which Greece has been for so long, on behalf of the Irish people.

Tonight, the Labour Party Members will vote against the very proposition they put to the House two years ago. They should not betray the people they represent. As we learned last February, the people will wait in the long grass to give their retribution. The Labour Party Members should do the right thing instead and vote with the Sinn Féin motion tonight.

See this speech in context