Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

It is a pity the Minister, Deputy Joan Burton, is not present in the Chamber for my contribution and those of my colleagues. The ESRI report published today includes shocking data on the concentration of unemployment and poverty in this State. In 2010, we are told, 22% of households included no adult in employment. The report shows that disadvantaged communities were excluded from the boom. In fact, from 2004 to 2007, the number of households with no working member doubled to 15%. Nobody in these communities went mad or engaged in spending sprees. None of them purchased second properties. The banks did not throw money at them, but they are now taking the brunt of budgetary measures through the reductions in social welfare provision.

The children of these households are entirely dependent on social protection, including child benefit, the back to school clothing and footwear payment and the fuel allowance. These cuts, together with the cuts in respite provision and home care packages, the abolition of the PRSI allowance and the introduction of a property tax, will have a huge impact on people. Consider, by contrast, the case of Google, which, in the past seven years, has contributed only 0.14% of all tax revenue, or €10 million per year. Yet the Government chooses to go after those who can ill-afford to support any further cuts in their income. I had hoped to ask the Minister, Deputy Burton, to take a few moments to consider the Google statistic in the hope she might be able to identify the inherent inequality. Every member of the Government would do well to do the same.

In its election manifesto the Labour Party gave an undertaking, as one of the main features of its campaign, that there would be no reductions in child benefit payments on its watch. In last week's budget it did precisely what it promised not to do. It is an absolute disgrace. The Labour Party warned voters before the election that Fine Gael in government would reduce child benefit provision by €252 per year, but its promise to prevent such a move has not been met. A family with two children is facing a reduction of €242 next year. Since 2008, this Government and its predecessor have overseen a loss of €2,500 per year in child benefit for a family of four. The Minister claims that those who rely on a social welfare payment will be protected, but there is absolutely no evidence of this in the decision to reduce the entitlement to jobseeker's benefit from 12 months to nine. People who have paid their tax and social insurance are seeing their entitlements curtailed. There is no excuse for these measures because alternatives were available. The Labour Party has made its choices in government and the people will make their choices in the future.

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