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

It was published on Friday and we are discussing it today. It is not the way to do business and there should be more time between publication and discussion.

The Minister may remember one of the first Bills she brought to the House in July 2011 was to legislate for the minimum wage rate. We welcomed that Bill at the time but I argued that the Bill removed the need for all legislation to be translated into Irish. My argument has been that along with every other Deputy, I am hampered in my ability to address legislation through the medium of Irish because there is no provision for an explanatory memorandum as Gaeilge. This is not a criticism of the Minister because not one Minister has produced an explanatory memorandum as Gaeilge which would help to increase the use and level of Irish in debates on important issues such as this. It is not fair on me nor is it fair on the Minister if I attempt to engage with the Minister while we are both wearing headphones. I know this is the practice in the European Parliament and it succeeds very well but it is easier if at least the vocabulary used in the Bill is available to me and to the Minister and to the translators. We all have a level of Irish but we might not be able to follow the conversation without the services of a translator. I ask the Minister to raise this matter at Cabinet.

Since the Minister took office there have been a series of cuts although she has made great play about avoiding cuts to core rates of social welfare. I have argued previously that she has in fact done so in many cases although some payments such as disability allowance and the old-age pension have been spared. Other core social welfare payment rates have been cut, including the jobseeker's allowance. The jobseeker's benefit by virtue of the reduction in months has also been cut substantially. Given the day that is in it, I remind the Minister that today is the day for payment of the respite care grant to thousands of carers all over the country. This year they will be short €325 which the Minister cut from that core rate in budget 2013.

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