Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister outlined what she had done since she became Minister and, as she will recall, before she became Minister she promised there would no cuts to basic social welfare payments. However, like many other Labour Party promises, that is a promise she broke when it came to the farming community. In successive budgets she reduced the amount of income earned by a farmer in his daily working life over the course of a year that can be disregarded. When she came to office, 70% of a farmer's net income was used to assess his income to calculate what his farm assist payment should be. She increased that in her first budget to 85% and she subsequently increased it and now there is no income disregard when assessing a farmer's income to decide the level of his farm assist payments.

The Minister indicated in her reply that any farm family comprising two parents and two children with an average income of €15,000 would qualify for a farm assist payment. I point out to her that the average income for a farming family with a beef farm is €11,000, which means that the income of a farming family with an average cattle rearing farm would be under threshold for farm assist. With the changes the Minister has brought in, on the basis of the payment that is given to such farmers, the work they carry out day in, day out does not count for anything. They are not given any benefit for the work they do over and above the standard dole payment, up to the level of which Minister brings their income.

See this speech in context