Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

In the limited amount of time available to me - I would not mind having 20 minutes - there is not much point going into detail on this Bill. It will suffice to say I am opposing it in every way. The manner in which the Government has handled the guillotining of the Bill shows the contempt it has for debate in this House. A member of the public asked me last week what the most disappointing thing is about being a Member of the Dáil. After thinking about my answer, I had to say that the worst thing is the cynicism in here. The debate on this Bill and on the budget in general has reinforced my view of the cynicism in this House. During our discussions on these cutbacks, some Government Deputies have shown a galling attitude when they have been challenged on what they said when they were in opposition and during last year's election campaign. It must be sickening for the public to hear Ministers saying the exact opposite of what they said when they were in opposition.

They are even dismissing the election campaign and suggesting we should really know better about the things said during a campaign.

The performance of the Minister, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, on "The Week in Politics" on Sunday said it all. I could not help but remember his performance on "Prime Time" when he attacked Fianna Fáil for destroying the country and how he appeared to express the anger of the nation that night. We now see that it was all a performance and meant nothing. It was all part of a show, like so many of the set pieces in this House.

The Taoiseach claimed there had been a democratic revolution in the general election last year. The counter-revolution is under way and victory is almost at hand for the politics of cynicism. The Government will be responsible for the death of real change in politics. Labour Party and Fine Gael backbenchers will vote in favour of the Bill and dash people's hopes further - the hope things could be done in a different way, the hope the Government would reflect their needs and put them first, and the hope that, when they got rid of Fianna Fáil, there could be change.

The Bill should be opposed by every fair-minded person in the House. The cut to the respite care grant is a touchpaper that has highlighted what is wrong with the budget. It could have been any other cut provided for in the Bill - for example, the cut to the back-to-school clothing allowance, on which the Minister only says there is good value to be had on clothes. There is a lack of imagination to the cut to child benefit and it seems it is just too hard to tax or means-test it. There is also the imposition of tax on maternity benefit and the cutting of the period in which people can claim jobseeker's benefit. The Minister has tried to suggest this is encouraging people back to work, but where are the jobs they are supposed to be getting? There is also the issue of penalising those who have been overpaid owing to mistakes made within the Department where the vast majority of overpayments take place and not through fraud. For all of these reasons, the Bill should be opposed.

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