Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

She dislikes the payment because she thinks it is money for the banks and as a result, those in mortgage arrears are the ones who will suffer. The Minister is cutting the allowance now. Some 19,000 mortgage holders were benefiting from the scheme when he came to office and by next year, he will have the scheme almost abolished.

As has been mentioned, the Minister is reducing jobseeker's allowance to €100 for new claimants up to the age of 25 while at the same time consistently failing to have proper activation measures in place to help them get back into full-time employment. This is a charter for the young people of Ireland to emigrate. My colleague demonstrated clearly the official policy of the Department in telling the unemployed to go work in Canada and elsewhere. This is the backup measure to such letters, when the Minister says to the young people the Government will cut their jobseeker's allowance if they stay here in Ireland.

The Minister is also cutting sick pay. This will be another burden on small businesses. This is another example of where the Minister, Deputy Noonan, states he wants to help business but, through the expenditure cuts, he is making it more difficult on small businesses by putting this cost on them. There are 200,000 small businesses in Ireland employing more than 655,000. These are a key sector of the economy. Many of these jobs are in the retail and hospitality, where employee costs account for over 60% of total costs. These small companies do not have the flexibility to move staff around if somebody goes out sick and it will be a barrier to future employment in those areas.

If one looks at the figures in the Department of Social Protection, as announced by the Minister in the booklet today, the attack on illness benefit, as I just mentioned, will result in a €22 million saving to the taxpayer but will be a cost to Irish business and employers, and that is a disincentive to employment. For the jobseeker's allowance change, by not giving this payment to young people the Minister, Deputy Burton, has factored in €32 million because she wants them to emigrate. The Minister is making a cut to maternity benefit to save €30 million. She is reducing the amount she will pay many women who are going on maternity leave, on top of taxing their maternity benefit from 1 July earlier this year. What has the Government against expectant mothers that it will tax and reduce their benefit? Shame on the Minister.

See this speech in context