Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In a real republic, one that honours the commitments of those who brought this State into being through their sacrifice and struggle, equality would be the watch-word of any Government of the people. It would be at the heart of every policy and would be the aim of every initiative. That kind of approach would not just honour our past but ensure our future, not simply as an economy or a state but as a society thriving and growing, cherishing its people and nurturing the generation that will carry it onwards. Some might describe that as woolly rhetoric, but those ideas are the foundation of a progressive approach and a government that ignores them is not worth electing. I appreciate that government is not an easy task. I know that many in this Government have been pushed to do things they did not want to or to accept policy they did not support because they felt it was unfair or unequal. But if one starts policy discussions on the basis of what one can get away with rather what is the right thing to do, one has already lost.

The Government has been far from the equality-driven administration I described. In nearly every instance it seems to have taken the opportunity to take from those who can least absorb a cut, to take services from those who need them most and to deny those who are most vulnerable of their most basic rights. The only time Ministers have reflected on those decisions has been after the expression of widespread vocal anger, such as in the case of recent cuts to services for disabled children.

This Bill proposes to make equality budgeting a legislative requirement. Equality-proofing a budget or policy would mean that each Minister would have to approach his or her brief and budget with the impact on wider society of the policy in mind. It would require the carrying out of equality impact assessments by Departments. I have asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport and the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government on a number of occasions whether they had impact assessments carried out when deciding on certain policies. The answer I received was depressing but also enraging. The respective Departments claimed they had no responsibility for such a practice. It was bad enough to be told that no impact assessments were carried out, although I suspected as much given the nature of the policies in question, but to be told that a Minister had no responsibility to ensure a policy did not increase inequality was really galling.

The Bill proposes to amend the existing legislation, which was a positive step when introduced but is relatively passive and toothless. While setting out to protect some sections of society, it did not put the onus on policy makers to prove their work was based on the principles of equality. That is the much-needed ingredient this amendment adds and to fear it is to fear good governance and good policy.

One of the groups the original Act protects is the Traveller community. However, we do not have to look too hard to find that this group has not benefited greatly from the current legislative protection. Perhaps in the context of a requirement to carry out such assessments and to promote equality, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, would have thought again before intervening in the housing of Traveller families he did not know. Perhaps he would have chosen also not to speak when he used an ethnic slur against Travellers to journalists or when he stood over a cut to the maintenance of Traveller housing which saw funding drop to just €50,000 for the city of Dublin. Equality-proofing requirements might also have caused the Cabinet to pause for further reflection when the idea of cutting housing adaptation grants for disabled or elderly people by 40% was proposed, or perhaps it would have changed minds on the cut to the transport mobility grant.

Another situation in which the Government has moved with no consideration for the wider impact on society is its attack on the livelihoods of taxi drivers, particularly those who were at one time political prisoners. Despite my campaign, it is clear the Government does not give a damn that its measures will put people out of work and put their families on the breadline.

Government Members will claim that Sinn Féin is not being real about the finances of the State. I propose that those who believe they will build an economy and maintain a society based on cuts to the most vulnerable - the disabled, the elderly, Travellers and single parents - are not being real. They are being lazy and callous. If they are neither of these, then they are weak and apologetic for these grossly unfair and insufficient approaches. Equality is something for which we should all strive. We should oppose inequality across the board. The Minister of State's rhetoric indicates that he will never strive towards equality, given some of his excuses.

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