Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I compliment my colleague, Deputy Kelleher, for putting this motion before the House. Like other speakers, I am somewhat bemused by the continuous spin from the Government to the effect that the Irish people's misunderstanding of the effects of these cuts is based on some kind of deficit in its communications strategy.

It is a sign of desperation if the Government has to say that its inability to communicate has confused the people.

In my experience the people are very adept at understanding how they are affected by measures brought forward in this House and through various budgets. They are well able to read between the lines. On this occasion they have found out the Government. I am not talking about the Minister of State personally. He is one of the few who talks straight when dealing with good or bad news. Others around him unfortunately do not. His colleagues, particularly those in Cabinet, have told too many porkies and the people have rightly recognised that the Government has sold them a pup, based on the promises that it made prior to the election and that it continues to inflict pain and unnecessary cuts notwithstanding its continuing to say that it is not doing that. It is shameful. No matter how the Government tries to communicate the removal of the bereavement grant, of the telephone allowance, of discretionary medical cards at the rate of 1,000 a month, of medical cards from elderly, sick people, it will not be able to fool people by somehow suggesting that it will not hurt, affect or disenfranchise them in a way that is disproportionate to others in society whom the Government has not touched because the Minister of State's friends in Fine Gael want to protect particular sectors.

If the Government is concerned about communications it might be worthwhile having a chat with the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton. She is quite adept at communicating. She communicates very well. She is still the darling of the media. One almost gets unnecessary information if one brushes past her in the corridor. She is so adept at protecting her own image she suggests that all these things are being foisted upon her, she is doing her best and she is not really reducing any of the rates, while all the while inflicting significant cuts on certain sectors within the social welfare budget. She continues to peddle what I believe to be an untruth, that there have been no cuts to social welfare rates. The word "rates" is added on. Yet there have been very serious cuts in social welfare that impact heavily on certain sectors. Swingeing cuts affect some of the most vulnerable people.

I read through some material last night in preparation for today's debate. On 22 November 2005, when the Minister for Social Protection was an opposition spokesperson she said of the then Government's Book of Estimates that it was as worthy of credibility as an Al Capone declaration of innocence. I would say that her declaration that social welfare rates have not been cut is just as worthy of credibility as an Al Capone declaration of innocence. She might reflect on that when she spins her next story against whomever she chooses. Needless to say, the Minister of State's party leader was adept at criticising and spinning in a particular way when he was in opposition. On 20 January 2009 at the commemoration of the ninetieth anniversary of the first Dáil, he said:

[C]an we say that we have lived up to the objective that "the first duty of the Government of the Republic is to make provision for the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of the children"? Can the elderly patient lying on a hospital trolley, or the pensioners defending their medical cards and their pension rights feel that "the nation's aged and infirm shall not be regarded as a burden, but rather entitled to the nation's gratitude and consideration"?

I wonder do the aged and infirm tonight believe that they are entitled to the nation's gratitude and consideration as a result of the Government's budget or do they feel that they are a burden on society? Those with whom I have conversed over the past week believe that they are a burden on society. The continual betrayal of that important sector of our society is shameful and not worthy of the comments coming from the Government side.

The Tánaiste could not help himself when he was then the leader of the Labour Party in opposition. On 15 October 2008 he had another rush of blood to the head when he said that "If the economy were the Titanic, it would be women and children last while the bankers got the first and most comfortable lifeboat". Over that period he threatened to lock up bankers, as did the present Minister for Justice, Equality and Minister for Defence, Deputy Alan Shatter, and others. The Tánaiste was going to do it his way rather than Frankfurt's way. All of that was going to happen. It seems to me on this occasion that following his input into the budget young mothers, young unemployed people, senior citizens, the sick and now those with life-threatening illnesses are left to last and the lifeboats are reserved for those whom Fine Gael believes it must protect, the wealthy and those in a position to pay. This budget continues to inflict a regressive approach, based on our taxation system, to benefit those who have most and disenfranchise to the greatest extent those who have least.

I was surprised yesterday when I received an information card from the Department of Finance that describes the consolidated effect of the eight or nine budgets that have taken place over the period of correction since 2008, which set out to suggest that whatever number of billions of euro had been taken out of the economy, it was most progressive in its impact. The Minister of State will be aware that the actions taken by his Government in the last two budgets were adjudged by the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, to have been the most regressive in comparison with the measures taken heretofore. This budget will be seen to continue that trend.

I take on board what we must accept about our period in office but at least when cuts and adjustments had to be made, those who could pay the most were hit the hardest. That is not just my point it is also that of the ESRI. The Government continues to take a regressive approach. It surprises me that Labour Party backbenchers and Ministers continue to come in here and defend that in a naked way, as if to suggest that decisions are difficult. We know that tough decisions have to be taken but they must be taken in a fair and equitable way and the actions of the Labour Party have been well shy of that.

Age Action Ireland and the Irish Senior Citizens Parliament are vehemently opposed to these proposals and I do not understand why we cannot show solidarity with them. The Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly could not understand why Age Action Ireland and the Senior Citizens Parliament could not be addressed in such a way as to resolve the issues. He has shown blatant disregard for the promises that he made to them prior to the election.

See this speech in context