Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Táim lán sásta páirt a ghlacadh sa díospóireacht tábhactach seo. I commend Deputy Mac Lochlainn on introducing this very important and progressive legislation. Last year, Sinn Féin pledged support for the equality budgeting campaign, a campaign that has developed significant momentum. I welcome to the Gallery many of the campaigners who are pushing for this modernisation. Our legislation places equality impact assessment schemes and consultation on a statutory and compulsory basis for all Departments and public bodies when introducing new policy or budget related measures. These measures would ensure the adverse impacts of the annual Government budget, for example, on specific groups in society, would not only be exposed but mitigated and dealt with to remove the entrenched inequality that exists in our society, a reality that has prevailed in good times and in bad.

One might ask whether this legislation is necessary. It is absolutely necessary. In 2008, nearly one in five people in lone parent households were in consistent poverty. As the Celtic tiger was breathing its last breath, lone parent households were the household type with the highest rate of being at risk of poverty. Lone parent households also reported the highest deprivation levels of any household type, at just under 25%. In 2009, four harsh budgets ago, one in five lone parent households went without heating at some stage. Deputy Mac Lochlainn referred to the study carried out by TASC, which revealed that the most at-risk group of poverty in Ireland, lone parents, lost the highest percentage of income in budget 2011, and things have got much worse for these families on Labour and Fine Gael's watch.

The ESRI distributional impact of tax, welfare and public sector pay report informed us last year that following budget 2012, the greatest reduction in income was in families with the lowest income, a fall of about 2% to 2.5% for the poorest 40% of households. This contrasts with a fall of about 0.7% for the top 30%. These results reflect in measurable terms that increases in indirect taxes are regressive and that cuts in welfare have a greater impact on low income groups. We should know intuitively on a commonsensical basis that this is so, but those statistics write it up large. These figures reflect why we need equality budgeting. It is not enough to say we aspire to do better for disadvantaged groups. We need to put in place the necessary and compulsory framework to ensure equality is the cornerstone of all budgetary decisions. If we fail to do so, de facto we are accepting the Michael McDowell-ism that "inequality is an inevitable part of the society of incentives that Ireland has ... become". I certainly do not want that type of society.

One partner in the Government coalition already accepts the premise of Sinn Féin's argument. Labour Party Members have called for budgets to be equality proofed by undertaking a distributional analysis of proposed budgetary measures on all income groups and for the evidence generated as part of the proofing process to be published as part of the budget documentation. They also called for budget measures implemented to be subjected to an equality audit quantifying the impact of budgetary measures on all income groups, and for this information to be published within six months of the budget.

The Fine Gael and Labour programme for Government acknowledges that the rights of women and men to equality of treatment and their right to participate fully in society must be upheld. It is not simply not good enough for Fine Gael and Labour to make this commitment and then to retreat from it when asked to implement it. Every time this matter is raised with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, he tells me his primary objective in life is to reduce the deficit and return the public finances back to a sustainable footing. I do not understand this response because equitable budgets are the only path to a sustainable recovery. Deepening inequality costs society dearly in social and hard economic terms.

The Minister also tells me that Cabinet procedures require that proposals from Ministers indicate clearly whether there is any impact of the proposal on, among other things, gender equality, persons experiencing or at risk of poverty or social exclusion and people with disabilities. He could have fooled me and could have fooled the people who saw their respite care grant cut or the children who attend DEIS schools who saw the Government attempt to undermine that system. In any event, when I ask for these data I am told the information cannot be released owing to Cabinet confidentiality. I simply do not accept that data such as these should be shrouded in a veil of secrecy.

I believe that if that data is in the possession of Government it should be made publicly available. Recently, the ESRI and NESC reports detailed clearly the impact of the economic crisis on young people and families. In particular, the ESRI asked how policy could best address the disproportionate impact the crisis has had on Ireland's young. The NESC report highlights how five austerity budgets have impacted hardest on families with children. It states that some 22% of all households are now without any work, that one quarter of all children are living in jobless households and that youth unemployment is soaring at 50% in Limerick, 49% in Donegal and 47% in Wexford. I could go on.

The Government's failure to embrace the concept of equality budgeting is nothing short of reckless in the face of these statistics. The equality auditing and impact assessments would provide information on how different sections of society are impacted by economic and social policy measures. Under the Government's current budgetary process it simply cannot achieve the best equality outcomes for society, especially for those hardest hit by disadvantage and unemployment. We know that the crisis is hitting low-income families, women, the youth and those with disabilities hardest. The Department of Finance and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform continue to consider fiscal planning from the bottom line up. By doing so, the Government is deliberately and needlessly restricting its own analysis.

Equality of opportunity is not simply an aspiration; it is a right in a modern society, with all the benefits that brings in good times and bad. Even if one is transfixed and one's world view is limited to the bottom line, equality still makes sense in real economic terms.

The Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, has responsibility for equality issues. I thought that to fulfil her job description she would be campaigning for and agitating for a framework such as that proposed in our legislation. It would be astonishing if a Labour Party Minister of State charged with the delivery of equality were to consider even for one moment voting against this proposal.

We have had rhetoric and the lip service. We are all familiar with the terminology of fairness and protecting the vulnerable. Those terms are a constant chime in the Chamber. Now, we want the reality and the delivery. We want to ensure that families the length and breadth of the State, women, our young, people with disabilities and people from the Traveller community, all of whom are often vulnerable to bad budgetary decisions, have protection in law and on the Statute Book. We invite every Deputy to support this legislation, to allow its passage to Committee Stage and to begin a new chapter in good practice, good governance and in measures that can deliver equality.

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