Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is my criticism of the Labour Party. Fine Gael is doing what it does, that is its nature and it is in its DNA to look after the better off and to force the cuts on the lowest-paid people.

Essentially, this is the reason Members are discussing these cuts today. As for the cut in jobseekers allowance for young people with a consequential saving of €32 million, my colleague highlighted that the Department of Social Protection is now advertising jobs in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, which is an extraordinary development. However, in the case of young people in Ireland whose allowances are being cut by €44 per week, from €188 to €144 or from €144 to €100, this represents a loss of €2,288 per annum from a young person. That is a phenomenal cut to ask anyone to accept. Not only is the Government doing that but it is doing it to people it is encouraging into the workplace through the JobBridge intern programme. At present, they get €50 as a top-up on their payment but any young person who is on that programme at present and is in his or her early 20s will suffer that cut of €44 per week. The Government had been encouraging them to go out to work by stating that depending on their age, they would receive €144 per week plus an additional €50 top-up but now it is taking €44 per week from them. It is no wonder the Government is advertising jobs in Canada, New Zealand and Australia when this is how it treats young people at home.

The cutting of the bereavement grant has been covered well by my colleagues. All I have to say is it is a lousy thing to do to families at a time of loss. The savings will amount to €17 million and I expect that approximately 20,000 families will suffer a bereavement this year who will be unable to get this grant, to which they would have been accustomed in previous years. In respect of the maternity benefit cut, I like the wording that was used. This is a cut of €32 per week or €832 in total for a woman on maternity leave, which will affect approximately 45,000 women this year and which comes on top of the recently-introduced taxing of maternity benefit. However, the Government has used the new word "standardisation" to describe it even though it actually is a cut of €32 per week for those affected. On the abolition of mortgage interest supplement for a saving of €12 million, I will not rehearse the argument. I am aware the Minister does not like to pay out that payment at all. It is the only cash payment by the State to people in financial difficulties or who have trouble with their mortgages and the Government is abolishing it. What else are the banks to do except to follow the Government's lead? When banks see the Government cutting the only cash payment it makes to people in mortgage arrears, it is a cue for the banks to follow likewise and to try to put people out of their houses. The changes in respect of illness benefit represent an additional cost to many small employers, as they now will be obliged to pay it for an additional three days, even though the Government has claimed this was a pro-business budget.

When I consider the position in respect of job activation, I agree with the philosophy that a person who loses his or her job should go to the relevant jobs office or whatever it is called to sign on for work and ascertain what is available, after which the payment will be processed, as opposed to the traditional method in which one went in to collect one's money and six months later, might get an offer of a job in Canada. That is the reverse way of doing it and no one can claim that a situation in which there is only one staff member for every 800 people in receipt of jobseeker's allowance is a real method of trying to encourage people into work.

The telephone allowance has been highlighted by my colleagues. However, the Government is not simply taking this away from all pensioners and everyone over 66 years of age. I stress again that all these people will also be obliged to pay a full year's property tax next year, which will be double what they paid in 2013. The Government also is cutting the telephone allowance for people who are under 66 years of age who are in receipt of disability allowance. I could understand it if the Government thought there was a means test for elderly people, in a similar manner to what is being done in respect of the medical card, although I might not agree with the figures the Government picked. However, the Government has made a budget proposal seeking to cut the telephone allowance for people in receipt of disability allowance, for those in receipt of invalidity pension and from everyone in receipt of the blind pension, as well as those in receipt of disablement payments. That is an horrific thing to do and it comes back to the basic reason, which is that there is an excessive number of cuts in the budget and an insufficient demand of those who could afford to pay a little more to so do.

See this speech in context