Dáil debates

Friday, 9 December 2011

Social Welfare Bill 2011: Second Stage (Resumed)

 

12:00 pm

Photo of Éamon Ó CuívÉamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

There is a very clear ceiling and a person would be in a household that does not have rich people as they are all excluded. This is a household payment to people we are certain have limited income. As I noted, the limit is the contributory pension plus €100 per week. The Government cut that specific group by 19% with regard to fuel and electricity allowance. On the other hand, all the pensioners over the limit of the contributory pension plus €100, or, by definition, on a non-contributory pension, will not see any cut at all. What inverted logic allows this to be equitable? I know pensioners with incomes of €50,000, €60,000 and €70,000 per year, from contributory widows' pensions for example, and they are not affected at all by this.

I remember the debate on the Social Welfare Bill last year, when I was in the Minister of State's seat. I said to Department of Finance officials that the fuel allowance should be increased, if anything, as it is a very efficient payment. We can forget about it being for fuel as it is a supplementary cash payment to poor houses. I told the officials they had missed the point. If I had €100 million to give out, I would not put it in a general rise in pensions, as that would increase the pension of people who are already well-off, I would put it into the fuel allowance instead because I would be guaranteed the money would go to houses with long-term unemployed or people with disabilities. We would know those households would be in relative poverty compared to the rest of society.

In considering the issue this way, one can decide if it was clever to avoid hitting the middle and upper classes, who do most of the shouting. They have perpetuated the urban myth that taking medical cards from millionaires was in some way cruel when young families on tight incomes cannot get it. There is a perfect example in farming circles, as the big farmers march the small farmers to Dublin to do the deal for big farmers, leaving smaller farmers ar a bharraí géar With medical cards, the rich people frightened the poorer people by saying they would lose the medical card, which they would not, and managed to save their cards. We correctly took out the top 5%. How can it be justified to have people on €100,000 per year having a medical card in straitened circumstances?

The philosophy of the budget seems quite clever but very flawed. Instead of taking a little from a lot, which might have annoyed many people but would have been equitable as wealthier people on social welfare would have taken a hit, the Government has focused on taking a lot from a little. In going that route, as I could have foretold, the most vulnerable people must be hit. We can see what has been done.

We can take the effects on women, particularly vulnerable women, as an example. Women with big families get hit through child benefit decreases but women with small families do not get hit at all. We all know that the more children a family has, the more difficult it is on a fixed income. Child benefit does not pay the cost of rearing a child. The Government reduced the entitlement to lone parents over the next few years to when the youngest child turns seven, which the Government parties opposed completely when in opposition. We had a debate on this as there was an initial proposal for the age to be 13 and I put it back to 14. The kids in secondary school are somewhat independent and when they come home from school in the evening, they are mobile and can stay in a neighbour's house, for example. I fully bought the argument that a child of seven or eight cannot be given a key or told to go to a neighbour's house. There are exceptional costs for a lone parent, and the idea of forcing them to the live register when we cannot get jobs for those already on the register is just a way of saving money.

There has been a cut of €29.80 for those on the community employment schemes, with a three or five year slide as well. The earnings disregard over five years is being reduced from €146 to €60. Over three years there is a stipulation that a person cannot be on community employment schemes and get either disability payment or a lone parent payment. Some 90% of single parent families are women.

There is a very mean anti-women provision in the small print. I do not have the details of the figures. The Government has stipulated that anybody who does not have an average of 48 contributions per year will have a very reduced pension compared to the current benefit. Currently, a person loses a few euro if there are between 20 and 48 contributions. Why is that anti-women? Women are the predominant group who start employment, work for five or ten years, leave employment and go back at a later stage. If a woman did not work to begin with she would be okay, even if she only did ten years at the end. The Minister of State knows from people in his clinic that when there is such a break, the average contribution is reduced. Women are mostly caught this way. What is the focus on getting women in this way?

Women may leave employment because of the norms of society, with some having had to leave because of the marriage bar. Women are also hit with regard to the contributory widows' pension. Instead of needing stamps for three years, the stipulation is now ten years. As a result, young widows with low incomes will be left in a vulnerable position.

On the Order of Business I read out an e-mail from a lady who may be down €330 with her family income supplement, and she is one of the lucky ones. Anybody on that payment is not living the high life. She is a carer and in many cases these people are caring for people 24 hours a day. We took the view when in government that caring is not a social welfare payment but a payment for hard work. It is not received when a person does nothing. There is the idea of helping the neighbour, cabhair le gcomharsa. The means test disregard for that is being eliminated. I know there are logical reasons, which were put to me when I worked with the Department, and some have interesting historical origins. At a time of extra pressure on people, we are targeting small groups and taking much from them cumulatively.

I am broken-hearted for the people who will lose hundreds of euro in this budget. I know the backbenchers are interested in the good of people, which I would not take from fellow politicians. They are also interested in their seats.

There is nothing wrong with that either because one cannot change anything if one is not in the House. They would much prefer the Government to take time out to change, in particular, the minor provisions which will not save significant amounts of money. I know this from being in the Department. The Government should take time out over the weekend, rethink the approach and come back next week with a revised Bill that would be fairer and spread the load more equitably. In particular, the cuts should not all be loaded on the most vulnerable. I could give examples all day of where we seem to be targeting all those who are means tested, while those who are on social welfare and have other private means seem to be getting away scot free. It is not fair or equitable.

In ainm Dé, the Aire Stáit, Deputy Ring, is a fair man. I urge him to get someone to replace him in the House and tell the Government to take time out to reconsider some of the crazy decisions made.

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