Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

When I first came into this Chamber, I welcomed the coalition of cuts. Unfortunately for the people, whether working men or women, young people, a person who has lost a job or a young person hoping to get a job in the future, this budget does nothing to address the key problems facing them. The economy remains stagnant; we still face a mortgage crisis and the jobs crisis has not got away. There is nothing for young people, except potential emigration. Is it part of the Minister for Finance's foresight to reduce tax on air travel in April 2014? That is just about the time many students will be about to do their leaving certificate examinations and think about the future. That reduction will make it easier for them to travel out of the country. It is sickening to think about what this budget could have meant and to look at what it is now.

This budget targets the sick, young adults, the elderly and pregnant women and protects the wealthy. This is the result of the three budgets of a Government with the Labour Party in power.

I agree that jobs have been created. Some 33,000 have been created and this figure has been bandied about as if it was a big hurrah for the economy. It is good to see jobs created, but some 12,100 of them are part-time jobs. This means that people do not have enough hours to earn a decent wage. There are 150,000 part-time workers who want more hours, an increase from the 4,000 in 2007. There are some 86,000 people on Mickey Mouse schemes, with no real jobs for them at the end of them. To June 2013, there was a fall in numbers at work in the key 25 to 34 age group and also in the 20 to 24 age group. This group is now being hit with a cut in their unemployment benefit. This is scandalous, particularly when there has been a drop in the level of employment among this group. The Government should be ashamed it is introducing a cut in the welfare provision for this group. It has shown no foresight in this budget in that regard.

The claim by the Minister for Finance that there is growth in the economy for the third successive year is a joke in bad taste that will leave a sour taste in people's mouths. After a disastrous economic collapse, we are bumping along at the bottom and continue to do so in an endless programme of austerity. What the Minister should have done in this budget was to launch a proper job creation programme. He has over €6 billion in the strategic investment fund that should have been allocated in the next two to three years in a programme aimed at improving the infrastructural deficit and job creation in the domestic economy in areas such as water services, broadband provision, green energy projects and early childhood education services. This would deliver real investment returns in the medium term, with immediate benefits in job creation, increased income tax and lower welfare costs.

We have heard nothing, however, but empty talk, seen cuts and the elimination of mortgage interest supplement for those desperately trying to hold onto their homes. This budget is yet another failed opportunity to address this problem. It provides for a figure of €30 million from the national lottery proceeds to recommence the State's housing building programme. Is the Minister serious or is he having a laugh? This will only build 200 to 300 houses, not even enough to provide for those who may be evicted in the next few months from their homes. This amount will not deal with the people concerned, nor with the 100,000 on housing waiting lists who are desperately trying to put a roof over their heads. It will not even provide for the people who have jobs and a few bob who want to take out a mortgage to buy a home. This proposal is a joke and putting it forward as recommencing the State's housebuilding programme - something in which the Labour Party would have been involved in the past - is a proposal for which the Minister should hang his head in shame.

This budget is an attack on pregnant women, with some €30 million being cut from maternity benefit payments. This follows the cut to maternity benefit made in last year's budget that took effect this year. It is scandalous also that prescription charges are being increased. This issue has been raised on numerous occasions recently. I put it to the Minister for Health that people who had gone to have their prescriptions filled had had them filled in two separate amounts. One person I mentioned had a prescription for 25 mg of lespace which had been dispensed in two separate doses of 20 mg and 5 mg and he had been charged €3 in prescription charges. Another constituent had been prescribed 4 mg of warfarin and it had been packaged in 1 mg and 3 mg does for which my constituent had been charged €3. Now the person concerned will be charged €6 and the cap has been put at a figure of €25. The people concerned will face another cut in their pension owing to these increases.

The issue of people losing their entitlement to medical cards has been discussed in the Dáil on a number of occasions. A woman in my area who used to work in Blindcraft and was a productive member of the community is now on social welfare. She is blind and has other ailments. In the past two years she has been applying for a discretionary medical card. However, she was turned down and had to appeal twice. This year again she has been told she will not get one. Is this refusal part of the effort to save €113 million? People like her desperately need the discretionary medical card.

The issue of the removal of the telephone allowance for the elderly has been mentioned, as has the removal of the bereavement grant. Some €18 million is being cut from the PSO subvention for public transport services. Is the Minister consciously saying he will not support public transport services and that he will be cutting back in that area in the next period?

The Minister, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, has stated he is here to represent the collective Cabinet. He should be ashamed.

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