Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

Before the election, the Labour Party promised to protect those on low incomes from further cuts. Its candidates across the State proclaimed that child benefit was a red line issue and that social welfare rates were sacrosanct. Labour secured its election on the back of those promises, but no sooner were the votes counted than the Labour Party turned its back on the thousands of struggling families who elected Labour Party candidates in good faith. The Minister and the rest of the Labour Party candidates swindled votes from struggling families when they promised to protect them last February. A luaithe agus a bhí na vótaí comhairthe, tháinig athrú poirt orthu. The moment they had the votes bagged, they made a contradictory commitment to cut social expenditure. No longer was child benefit sacrosanct to the Labour Party. The only red line issue now seems to be the protection of the wealthy and high earners from tax increases.

Chonaic muid cheana féin an bealach slíbhíneach ina oibríonn Páirtí an Lucht Oibre. Níos luaithe i mbliana, nuair a chuir mise ceist ar an Aire ag coiste sa Teach faoi athruithe ar an phacáiste leasa teaghlaigh, dúirt sí liom nach raibh aon athrú ag teacht. Dhá uair a chloig níos déanaí, chuir sí na hathruithe sin suas ar an Idirlíon. Sin an sórt mheoin atá aici. Tagann muid anois chuig an Bille Leasa Shóisialaigh seo atá os ár gcomhair. Más gá tuilleadh cruthúnais, is cruthú eile an Bille seo don athrú agus don dallamullóg toghchánaíochta a dhein Páirtí an Lucht Oibre ar a lán dóibh siúd a chaith vóta chucu níos luaithe i mbliana.

Let us be clear. We heard it from the Minister's mouth. This is her Bill. It contains social welfare cuts that she, the Labour Party and Fine Gael have decided to make. It is not a Fianna Fáil Bill and it is not an EU-IMF Bill. This is the Minister's Bill and her cuts and she has chosen to make these cuts despite her promises. From this week on, I do not want to hear another Government Deputy blaming Fianna Fáil, the EU or the IMF for cuts. These are the Minister's decisions. Contrary to the myth that she has been actively peddling, the Minister had and has options. She still has options, but she took the wrong options in this Bill. Her hands were not tied. Tá saoirse aici rogha treo a ghlacadh, agus tá roinnt roghanna treo leagtha amach i doiciméid a chuir muidne agus eagraisí eile faoi bhráid an Rialtais maidir le bealach difriúil a ghlacadh. The troika made it crystal clear when they met my party's representatives that provided the deficit adjustment contained in the agreement is achieved, they could not care less how the figures are reached. If the Minister does not believe me or my party, she can ask Father Seán Healy of Social Justice Ireland or she can ask the troika the next time the Government is called in. She should ask was there an alternative and was she as tied as implied in the myth she has tried to peddle.

In our costed pre-budget submission, my party detailed a range of alternative cost-saving and tax-raising proposals from which the Minister could have chosen. Sinn Féin's alternative budget would have protected those on low and middle incomes, stimulated the economy and created jobs while making an equivalent total adjustment, as was required by the troika. I will not rehash those proposals here as my party colleagues and I have already done so over recent weeks. I have e-mailed the Minister another copy of our proposals so that she can take the time, before the passage of this Bill, to read it and to see how wrong she is with regard to an alternative. She does not seem to hear the message, perhaps because she cannot hear. That may be because the hearing aids have not arrived because of just another one of the sleeveen cuts in this budget.

Labour Party voters were led to believe that the new Government would reject the austerity approach of Fianna Fáil and would instead seek to grow the economy to a sustainable recovery while protecting the vulnerable and asking those who can well afford to contribute more to be made do so. Instead, the Minister is making social welfare recipients carry the lion's share. Bhí muinín ag siúd a chaith vóta le Páirtí an Lucht Oibre go dtabharfadh siad cosaint dóibh, go háirithe iad siúd atá i gcruachás in ár sochaí. In áit sin, tá an tAire ag cur tromlach an ualaigh orthu siúd atá ag brath ar liúntais leasa shóisialaigh agus ar an gcóras. Ní ag cosaint boicht na tíre atá an Rialtas, ach a mhalairt. Tá sé ag cur an tromlach sin ar ghnáth daoine na tíre.

During her press conference on Monday, subsequently in her piece for www.thejournal.ie, and in her speech here today, the Minister was at pains to convince the public that she had secured some sort of victory for people on social welfare. She wrote: "Yes, there will be €475 million in cuts in my Department. But it could have been €665 million." That is no victory. The full year cost is not €475 million, nor is it even €665 million. The full cost is €811 million. Tell the truth, Minister. She should tell the people that she is taking €750 million out of the pockets of the poorest in Irish society and giving it to the big rich German and French pension funds. She is taking €811 million out of the local economies throughout the country and adding to the dole queues and misery of many people.

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