John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that the Minister might be trying to be helpful. It is not help that is needed but action on the ground. I see it in the strawberry industry in Wexford where people get three or four months' work. People in the local area will not take that work because of the difficulty of getting back their jobseeker's payment. That issue needs to be addressed.

As Deputy Calleary said, the elimination of the telephone allowance will cause major problems in rural areas in particular. In many cases older people are the only ones who have a landline. People who supply the panic buttons say that a landline is required. I know the Taoiseach and Minister have said that we will talk to those involved in Community Alert and others to see what can be done. It does not cost a huge amount of money and the telephone allowance should be restored to these people as quickly as possible.

People in my constituency are very annoyed about the reduction of the bereavement grant. It was not a huge amount of money, but it was significant for older people and families on the breadline. It was another mean cut by the Government.

Some people get on FÁS schemes or community employment schemes in general for a year. They go to the local GAA club, rugby club, soccer club or whatever organisation is involved. When the year is up they go back on the dole. They go through all that for the sake of an extra €20 a week. I do not know why this happens. Putting them back on the dole is certainly no help to the person. I do not think it would break the Government if they were allowed to remain on those schemes for a particular time. A number of organisations have informed me that if they were allowed to keep the person, they would pay the €20 a week, which is €1,000 a year. We should be more inventive with these schemes to ensure people stay on them allowing them to stay in some kind of work. People like to get up on the morning and go on the scheme. They like to be involved in the local community and they like to help out those local community organisations. However, dumping them back on the dole at the end of a year is not good enough.

I would criticise many of the Government's reductions. When the Minister was on this side of the House, we were lacerated for not giving more - let alone making cuts. This Government's budgets have been regressive and not in the interests of the less well off in our communities. The Minister will need to look again. Perhaps she is unable to fight the battle at the Cabinet table to ensure that the less well-off are protected. I come from Wexford where there has been the heartbeat of Labour for many years. Given the position he now holds, I certainly expected the Minister, Deputy Howlin, to protect the less well-off and vulnerable, including the older people who marched to Leinster House this week to protest at the change in medical cards. However, seemingly the Labour Party has abandoned all of the ideals and beliefs it had throughout the years regarding the less well-off and poor in our society. That is a pity because these people built up the country. They have worked hard on small incomes throughout the years to ensure we had a prosperous country. People like us have been elected to this House to look after and protect them, and to ensure they have a decent standard of living. Somewhere along the way the Labour Party has abandoned these ideals. I do not know why.

See this speech in context