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

People in that age group who have seen their friends forced to leave this country en masse because of the failures of the Government, Fianna Fáil and politics in this State will be thinking something along those lines. The Government will have to give an explanation to those people and to their families as to why it was deemed appropriate to target them in this way. I cannot think of a measure that could be seen as a greater incentive for young people to leave this country very quickly because the Government of recovery and democratic revolution that was all about change does not want them to remain in the State. That is how it looks to me and I suspect that is how it will look to them.

It is not just the cut to the jobseeker's allowance that sends this message to that generation of people. Graduates face indefinite periods of rolling unpaid internships. In fact, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, who is sadly not with us, recently admitted to taking on 35 such young people in his Department, yet not one of the interns was offered a full-time position, despite similar recruitmentneeds arising. Just recently, the same Minister, Deputy Howlin, has hired three additional researchers under the JobBridge scheme tasking them with the overhaul and simplification of the Statute Book. I give that specific example because it speaks volumes about how the Government views young people. The Government is disinterested, dismissive and it has no regard for these young people. The coded language of the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, when it comes to young people aged 25 and under who find themselves without work is reprehensible. The Government seems to blame them for its failures. The Government has failed to create the environment within which young people can flourish. It is that simple. It is the Government that failed to create the environment in which jobs can be created. That happened on its watch. The Government has cynically and deliberately created and sustained an environment for emigration.

It is not just the young who are in the Government's sights in the budget. Others have referred to the cutting of the telephone allowance, which will affect not just older citizens but carers and people with disabilities. I would love to have been a fly on the wall for that discussion. It would be really interesting to know what was said. It is unfortunate that Cabinet discussions and those of the Economic Management Council where the lads took the decision are not available. I would be truly fascinated to know how anybody in his or her right mind would have considered that a good idea - to leave people who are in a vulnerable, dependent position, potentially without access to a telephone. Does the Taoiseach believe that is a good idea? Does it strike him as clear thinking? Judging from the expression on his face, I suggest he thinks perhaps it was not.

See this speech in context