Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

If we look at the combined effect of the changes announced yesterday and today, when we examine the figures closely, the people who will be hardest hit are working families with children and families dependent on welfare. If we take two examples we can see this. A working family with four children over the course of a year will lose €432 child benefit and while we can quibble about the exact amount, they will lose about €300 to €400 in VAT at least. On the drugs payment scheme they will pay an extra €144 and an extra €100 for the household charge. For motor tax, excise duty and carbon tax they will lose at a minimum another €100. If they are fortunate enough to have private health insurance, the VHI has said there will be a 50% increase in the premium arising from the measures announced yesterday. For a family of six people, a typical One Plus plan is about €2,000 so we can add another €1,000 for that. For such a working family irrespective of its income, the total cost of these budget measures is approximately €2,176. Let us take a second example of a family with three children aged three, eight and 14, where the parents paid income tax for years but where the principal earner lost his or her job at the start of the recession-----

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