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

Bravo. Good for the Government. It is, however, hardly a resounding success. In the most recent budget, the Government imposed a property tax on family homes and cut child benefit, the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance, jobseeker's benefit and the respite care grant. It also increased fees for students at third level, raised the thresholds relating to student grants, etc. I put it to the Minister that none of these measures bear equality as their hallmark. As the Government saw it, these cuts and increases hit the same people who were hit by the previous Fianna Fáil Administration in its budgetary efforts. We need a system of robust and transparent equality proofing that will be underpinned statutorily - in other words, in law - in order to ensure that when budgets are brought forward, the consequences for different groups in society will be fully measured and understood. The Government cannot make a claim for fairness and equality if it is not prepared to sign up to such a system, the establishment of which was supported by the Minister's party at its conference last year.

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