Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As everybody is aware, these issues are addressed in the North by way of block grant from Westminster. The Government's concern, while belated, is quaint. Until such time as we have a united Ireland, on which project it is hoped the Government will work with Sinn Féin and that it will soon be achieved, and there is one good Government for all the people of this island, I will focus on what is happening in terms of the delays in processing applications for social welfare payments. The processing time for appeals in respect of invalidity pensions and allowances is ten months. Families in receipt of the family income supplement, which families have been assessed in detail and are the working poor with incomes inadequate to rear their children, are being denied the family income supplement payment while their eligibility is being reviewed, which process is taking several months. These people are often required to resubmit documents again and again and are advised, while waiting for their payment to be restored, to seek the assistance of the community welfare officer only to be told by their community welfare officer that he or she does not have the budget to meet their level of need. Many families do not have sufficient income to rear their children properly.

I do not know if the delay in processing applications is the result of incompetence or mismanagement. Thousands of people are owed hundreds of millions of euro. I am not a conspiracy theorist. However, I believe the Government benefits from delaying payment of social welfare benefits, student grants and farm payments. One wonders if these delays in processing by the Department of Social Protection are the result of cash flow problems, are an interest saving measure or if the purpose is to delay payments until next year so that the Government can receive a pat on the head from the troika for the savings it made in 2012 while at the same time the poor people of this country receive body blows. There must be some reason for it other than incompetence.

On the Bill, the Government says it has taken the hard choices. They are hard not for Government but for the people who are in the unfortunate position of having to depend on it for their existence. The Government can blame Fianna Fáil all it wants. However, it knows that for the many people who are not in a position to care for themselves the cuts proposed in this Bill will make that task even more impossible. It knows that these cuts will result in all sorts of social problems and the malnourishment of children yet it has chosen to impose them rather than tax the wealthy. That is disgraceful and shameful.

Only a few weeks ago we campaigned in the children's referendum on the rights of children. Every child in this country should have the right to food, heat, decent housing, education and a happy existence. The Constitution states that we should cherish all the children of the nation equally. As stated by Deputy Ó Caoláin this budget cherishes all the chief executives of this country. It certainly does not cherish all the children of the nation equally. Child poverty is among the worst forms of poverty. While adults who find themselves in poverty can do something about it, even in the Ireland of today, children have no way of lifting themselves out of poverty.

The Government parties have not lived up to their promises prior to the election, leaving the electorate faced with a different country from that promised. While the Government parties, in particular the Labour Party, campaigned on express solidarity for political and civil rights across the world, they are abandoning social and economic rights in Ireland. The cut to the respite care grant is an unprecedented attack on the sick and elderly. There are thousands of families across Ireland caring for their loved ones. The worst part of this is that the Government is not only taking money from carers but is paying lip-service to the service they provide. The Government accepts that they are saving the State a great deal of money and knows they will continue to provide that care even if paid nothing for doing so because they are caring for a loved one.

The Government is saying, "Go work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year because you are doing it for a loved one." I urge the Government, if it has an ounce of humanity, to reverse the particularly obnoxious cut to the respite care grant.

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