Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Government's refusal to allow Dáil Éireann to have adequate time for a meaningful debate on the Social Welfare Bill is outrageous. This Bill will push many people into poverty, yet the Government will not even allow our national Parliament sufficient time to debate it. What is the Government afraid of? Is it afraid its backbenchers may get time to speak? Deputy McCarthy made an excellent contribution, although I disagree with much of what he said. As elected representatives, we should have adequate time to debate the Bill. Is the Government afraid the people will see understand the impact this Bill will have?

This Bill will push men, women and children in this country into poverty. We do not know how many it will push into poverty, because the Government has not even had the decency to conduct a proper poverty impact assessment. Let me, therefore, introduce some figures to the debate. CSO figures for 2010 show there is now in every six adults in Ireland at risk of poverty and one in every five children at risk of poverty. Two years into this Government, I am pretty sure those figures have increased. However, the Government is now introducing, through PRSI, a flat income tax rise and is cutting child benefit for everyone in the country. Both of these regressive measures will hit the most vulnerable hardest.

Why does the Minister not means test child benefit? The Government says that is not possible. It can set up NAMA, invent promissory notes, figure out how to tax everybody's house, but it cannot means test child benefit. Why does the Government not introduce a progressive income tax? Fine Gael says this would disincentivise higher earners from working, but it has nothing to back this up. It has no data, research or surveys on this. All it has is its own ridiculous version of economics, which promotes inequality and poverty, somehow in the national interest.

The removal of the PRSI threshold will affect more than 1 million workers and will hit those who have the least more than anybody else. In its defence, the Government points to a progressive tax system. We have a progressive system, but this sort of measure undermines that. A sum of €256 a year may not sound like a lot to a Minister or a Deputy. It certainly does not sound like much to members of the so-called Economic Management Council. However, if one is one of the 20% of children in Ireland at risk of poverty, that is a hell of a lot of money. The cut to child benefit also amounts to a lot of money for these people. Again, this will hit the poorest families the worst.

Since 2009, the annual child benefit for a three-child family will have fallen by more than €1,600 a year following this budget. For many people, that is the difference between being at risk of poverty and of being in poverty. What do these measures on PRSI and child benefit achieve? They will raise just €500 million, which will go just a small fraction of the way towards paying off the promissory notes. The fact the Minister will not even allow the Dáil adequate time to debate this is pathetic.

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