Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)

What manners has the Minister with the misery she will inflict on the people? I will have my say. I say to the Minister for lifestyle choice that I do not know anybody who is on welfare because he or she wants to be on welfare. The people I know and represent want to work. They want to get up in the morning, put on their shoes and go out to do an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. If they cannot get work, they are entitled to seek whatever they are entitled to. The Minister is making it impossible for families to manage. This is the budget the Government claimed it did not want to bring in. Now that it has brought it in, it is much more draconian and harder on poor people. They are the people affected by this budget. Hundreds of poor working families face cuts of up to €120 per week based on the measures buried in the small print of the budget. The hidden move will see cuts to family income supplement for those also in receipt of the carer's allowance. I would like to read into the record a letter I received from a poor family, although I am sure the Minister does not want to hear it. Poor families will be affected by what will be passed here today. As stated by Deputy McConalogue, this legislation is being rushed through the House today because the Government does not want people to know what is happening. The Government is rushing it through so that it will be in place before the people know what hit them.

This budget is one of the meanest, most devious, ever introduced.

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