Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Does the Taoiseach agree that it would seem extraordinary to most people that the social policy committee has met only once since the recess, particularly in the context of a draconian budget that had severe effects, with further cuts to those dependent on social protection payments? In that regard and against a background of just under 400,000 people who are unemployed or seriously underemployed, with many living in very difficult circumstances, it betokens very little concern for that segment of our people. Is it not the case that the Minister for Health is a member of the social policy committee? Is it not incredible, with the crisis facing tens of thousands of people whose medical cards have been withdrawn, that this matter has not been deemed sufficient to call an emergency meeting of the committee, if this committee is worthy of its name and really dealing with social policy? The reality is that the troika, as an agent for the European financial markets, has far more input into social policy in this country than any social committee of the Cabinet which is supposed to represent the elected Government of this country. That is the reality and is manifest in the savage cuts the Government has made to young people's jobseeker's allowance, to maternity benefit and so forth.

I ask the Taoiseach to stop repeating the mendacious statement that core rates of social welfare have not been cut or hit by this Government. For young people aged between 22 and 25, the small amount they receive in jobseeker's allowance is very much a core payment. It gives them a life that is far from that of a Cabinet Minister in terms of income and lifestyle, but that is the reality and the cut is a savage blow. Similarly, there is the cut to maternity benefit, which is a core payment for young women who are expecting children and trying to survive in the face of the plethora of taxes and cuts this Government and the previous one under Fianna Fáil and the Green Party have imposed on them. The same is true of the cut to rent supplement. The Taoiseach should at least do us the favour of explaining how language has changed suddenly to allow him to make such statements and square them with the reality of what people are experiencing due to the austerity his Government is inflicting upon them.

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