Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

Let me give one example, which concerns a meals-on-wheels service in Glasnevin. Their training and materials budget will be slashed from €24,000 to €11,500 per year. They cannot function on that basis. Others have told me of circumstances where the money the Minister wished to allocate to them for their number of participants will not even cover their insurance. They cannot function on that basis. The decisions the Minister is taking in her social hardship Bill, when matched to other decisions in education and health, will mean mayhem in communities across the State.

The sad thing is that the Minister knows that but she has taken these decisions nonetheless. I hope she is listening because if she is, she will know that those affected know full well the consequences of these cuts. It beggars belief that a Labour Party Minister would stand over all of this.

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