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

There is a common theme to many of the Minister's cuts. What these cuts will do is attack people and families trying to make their way forward, who want to work and contribute to society and get out of poverty. These cuts will act as a disincentive to work and will hit people at the margin of a certain level of earnings. This is wrong. The suggested threshold is €400. If the other spouse is on social welfare and they have two or three children, the hit will be €60 or €90 a month if they happen to be just above the threshold. An amount of €600 is not a lot for a family with children. Therefore, the Minister is hitting people at the low end, people who are trying to work and contribute, and is taking a significant chunk from them. That is the difference between poverty and some sort of living standard for people who are working and trying to contribute to society. This is wrong. It hits the people who should not be hit and the Minister should withdraw it.

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