Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

-----yet the Taoiseach has decided to cut the bereavement grant of €850. This decision is wrong. The Taoiseach knows this, as does his backbenchers. Anyone who has faced a bereavement will know it is wrong.

Measures have been introduced in an attempt to soften the blow and I welcome them. Sinn Féin has called for some of them. However, the context in which they have been introduced is brutal. Sinn Féin also called for free GP care for the under-fives, but the Government has at the same time withdrawn medical cards from very vulnerable persons. It is pitting grandparent against grandchild in order to make pitiful savings, but people can see through this. It is not right that a medical card is taken from the grandparent to be given to the grandchild. Free GP care could have been provided for children aged five years and under while also protecting vulnerable elderly people.

While I welcome the introduction of the bank levy, I ask why it is restricted to a short period of time. This and the previous Government have pumped €65 billion into the banks, for which a short-term levy does not make up in any way.

I am glad that the Tánaiste is in the House because we have not heard a bloody single word about the game-changer, the seismic shift from the ESM, European Stability Mechanism. The only word we heard about it was from the German Chancellor, who told us it was not on. When will we get this money back? The Government has pumped €21 million into the banks and Fianna Fáil gave the remainder. The Government and the budget are silent on this question. The bitterness of what the Government is asking people to swallow today is made no sweeter by the handful of measures with which it hopes to distract the public.

Sinn Féin's alternative fair budget argued for a lower adjustment and I am glad the Government that has heeded that call. However, I am disappointed that it was done by sleight of hand.

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