Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

I wholeheartedly agree with the Deputy. This measure should be called the social destruction Bill, not the Social Welfare Bill. This legislation will hit people on social welfare through the reduction in qualified child increase. It will also hit the eligibility of pensioners to receive contributory pensions. It will hit widowers, child benefit and the one-parent family income disregard. This will force single parents back into poverty. The Bill should be described as a poverty creation measure as a counterpoint to all of the commitments made by the Government to provide for labour activation measures. It is hitting the concurrent payment which will also hit lone parents. In what sense, therefore, can the Minister for Social Protection talk about this being a social welfare Bill when all it will do is increase poverty levels? It will increase the level of child poverty, as well as hitting lone parents and the elderly. It will make things worse for some of the most vulnerable sections of society. The Minister simply cannot stand over the Title of the Bill.

See this speech in context