Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry; I will rephrase. Like somebody who is trying to hide behind cuts that she makes, the Minister cannot be in the House to listen to criticism. She closed off the diet supplement scheme which had offered social welfare recipients suffering from conditions such as coeliac disease, stroke, throat cancer and motor neuron disease a small contribution towards the additional costs associated with their medically necessary diets.

The Minister has claimed continually that she is protecting the vulnerable in society, but, in reality, she has targeted the elderly who are dependent on social welfare or in receipt of some social welfare payments by cutting the period of the fuel allowance by six weeks, which represents a cut of €120 for some of the poorest households in Ireland at a time when energy costs have rocketed. She also cut the small top-up payment for those living in smokeless fuel areas. She cut the household benefits package which offers a contribution towards heating and energy costs, in particular, for older persons but also for some households in which a person has a disability. She cut the electricity allowance by 25% and the gas allowance by up to 20%. She announced these cuts in the same week that Bord Gáis introduced hikes of up to 30% in the price of electricity and gas and prices have not gone down since, rather they have gone up.

She abolished the telephone allowance which resulted in increased fear and isolation among many older people. First she halved the payment and then got rid of it altogether. The Government, in cutting the scheme in two budgets, has actually taken €271 from the annual budgets of those aged over 70 years and many people with a disability.

The Minister raised the age of entitlement to the State pension from 65 years to 68. This effectively amounts to a total cut of 16% which will impact hardest on those with low or modest incomes who have no capacity to save for private pensions that continue to allow their wealthier counterparts to retire early. What the Minister is doing is forcing people onto dole queues.

The Minister has claimed that she is protecting the most vulnerable, but, in reality, she has been targeting those who care for the elderly, the sick and people with disabilities. Just in case she has forgotten, she cut the respite care grant of €325 in budget 2013 which I described at the time as one of the meanest cuts of all. The annual respite care grant is paid to those who are caring for children and others suffering with severe disabilities. That cut was made at a time when respite services were being steadily cut back across the country owing to the Government's imposed cuts on the health service. Respite care services have continued to be cut since. The respite care grant was invaluable in ensuring the financial and mental well-being of family carers and the cut exacerbated their vulnerability to financial and emotional strain.

The Minister should not forget also that she targeted the bereaved by abolishing the bereavement grant last year. The grant - €850 - had been of small assistance to those who had suffered a bereavement towards meeting the crippling cost of funerals for workers with a solid contributions record. In parts of Dublin it can cost up to €10,000 to bury a loved one.

The Minister was not telling the whole truth when she said she was protecting the most vulnerable because, in reality, the cuts were increasing the level of homelessness. She has been responsible for a cut in the rent supplement scheme by hiking the number of minimum contributions required. She has also closed off the mortgage interest supplement scheme and her colleague has failed to provide badly needed social housing across the State but, in particular, in urban areas. Homelessness among families has reached chronic proportions according to the Dublin Region Homeless Executive.

The Minister said she was protecting the most vulnerable when, in reality, she further impoverished the poorest children in the State by cutting the back to school clothing and footwear allowance. This annual means-tested payment is available only to the poorest children in the State. Its purpose is to assist with the costs of returning to school each September in what is supposed to be a "free education" system. The payment level already fell short of the real costs involved in returning to school, but even with this knowledge, the Labour Party and Fine Gael Government decided to cut the allowance in three budgets in a row. First, it was cut by €50 which was followed by a further cut of €50, It was then eliminated altogether for children between the ages of 18 and 22 years in full-time education.

How can the Minister claim to have protected core social welfare rates when she cut the core jobseeker's allowance rate for young people further and deeper than even Fianna Fáil had done? She cut the core rate by €44 in the full knowledge that the number of education, training and, most importantly, job opportunities available to young people was grossly insufficient to meet demand. She made the cut in the knowledge that it would force even greater numbers of young people to emigrate from this island. Young people make up the vast majority of the 1,700 people who leave our shores each week. The safety valve for the Government and the social welfare system is that more than 250,000 people have emigrated because of Government policies.

How can the Minister claim to have retained core social welfare rates when, in reality, she has cut the period of jobseeker's benefit by three months? She has also cut the core maternity benefit payment. First, she taxed it and then cut the payment. The majority of maternity benefit recipients will now see their weekly payment cut by €32, giving a total cut of €832 over the period.

The cut in invalidity pension means 65 year old disabled pensioners are looking at a cut of €36.80 per week or €1,914 annually. Invalidity pension is paid to people with the requisite contributions record who cannot work owing to a long-term illness or disability. Most will have been receiving illness benefit for the previous year.

Child benefit warrants a separate mention.

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