Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

It is absolutely shameful that the commitments and promises Labour made during the election campaign are being broken at will.

In the context of the reduction in child benefit, some 200,000 children are living in poverty. In the budget, the Government has cut the child benefit for a family with six children by €606 per annum. This is in addition to last year's cut of €383 which was introduced by the same Minister. There are also proposed cuts to the back to school allowance and the early childhood supplement.

The proposal in respect of the respite care grant is cruel, mean, penny-pinching and counterproductive and should be reversed immediately. Carers do major work and they save the State some €4 billion each year. They work for €1.21 per hour or for a half-rate of 61 cent per hour. Carers are finding it difficult to continue and their health is breaking down. The respite care grant is absolutely essential to them and the reduction to it should be reversed. I received a telephone call from a constituent earlier today which illustrates how the social welfare system is being dismantled by the Minister. The person in question applied for a carer's allowance for their young quadriplegic son some 51 weeks ago and has not obtained a result as yet. That is the absolutely damning evidence which exists in respect of what is happening in the area of social welfare.

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