Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, opened the budget with a quote from Yeats: "Too long a sacrifice/Can make a stone of the heart." He neglected to continue with the line "O when may it suffice?". The answer to this question is being sought in households across the country. Different groups in our society have had to endure different levels of sacrifice. Some must be wondering whether their sacrifices have been sufficient to satisfy their contribution to the recovery of the economy.

Last year's budget was by any measure an anti-women budget, with the main measures that attacked them being cuts to child benefit and taxation of maternity benefit. This year's budget, almost as an afterthought, imposed an average cut of €32 on women on maternity leave. The Government will argue it has compensated people with the introduction of the GP visit card for those under five years. This measure is the centrepiece of the budget, with both Government parties hoping to earn praise from bringing it in. I welcome this initiative as an important step on the road towards universal health care, but my welcome is tempered by caution as the devil lies in the detail. Will the funding for these new GP cards for children under five come from money saved by the withdrawal of full discretionary medical cards from other children suffering from serious illness or disability? The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, announced that he was looking for a further cut of €133 million from spending on medical cards in 2014, which leads me to the suspicion that we will see further withdrawal of these medical cards.

Those with a serious long-term illness have also been hit with a significant rise of €1 in their prescription charges. That may not sound like much but for those on limited incomes and resources it is a significant increase, particularly for homeless people who may be in recovery and who need four or five prescriptions a month. They must pay €2.50 and that is mean.

The budget has also been mean in targeting the elderly. The Government has targeted cuts to the medical cards of those with long-term illness. Cuts to the household benefits package will mean that many of our older citizens, particularly in rural areas, will lose links to their families and will also lose the use of their personal alarm systems.

Young people, some of whom are protesting at the gates today, have also been targeted with reductions to jobseeker's payments, particularly for those under 26 years. The Minster for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, claimed the Government could take credit for growth in the economy, but this is entirely false. The Government lowered its expectations from 1.7% to 0.2%. The Government is forecasting 2% growth for next year despite confirmation from the CSO that manufacturing output and export are down 7.4%. In the absence of strong export-led recovery, the domestic economy is flatlining and the very groups proportionately paying more are those on lower incomes.

With regard to the statement on the budget made by the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, there is a significant variation from the programme for Government with respect to A Vision for Change and mental health. At the outset of the lifetime of this Government, a commitment was given for a ring-fenced sum of €35 million for the development of mental health services. I would like clarification on whether the €20 million that has been announced is on top of the commitment of €35 million, or is it the case that the sum of €35 million has been reduced to €20 million? This is a demonstration of the most odious cut to the most vulnerable people in society who are not in a position to protect themselves.

It is targeting those who had no hand, act or part in the economic collapse in this country. It is despicable that we would sit here in this Chamber and facilitate a cut against those who are not complicit in the scene of this crime - the economic crash.

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