Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

These are difficult times. Significant challenges face us and difficult choices have to be made. Yesterday the Government announced that the student registration fee would increase by €250, that the pupil-teacher ratio would be increased by decimating the career guidance service and that the fuel allowance would decrease. These are some of the wrong choices made by the Government yesterday and retrograde steps.

Today, however, I will concentrate on the brutal attack on young people with disabilities. This is a social welfare cut; therefore, the spin about there being no welfare rate cuts does not wash. This is not just another broken promise - it is a direct smash and grab raid on the most vulnerable in society. Targeting income supports for young people with disabilities between the ages of 16 and 24 years is calculatingly callous and cold. There will be a €111 reduction for disabled people between the ages of 16 and 17 years, an €88 reduction for those between the ages of 18 and 21 years and a €44 reduction for those between the ages of 22 and 24 years. These are savage cuts in the incomes of young people with disabilities who, to a large extent, are excluded from many of the labour activation measures run by the Department of Social Protection.

This is happening because of the reckless promises made by the Taoiseach and his party.

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