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

The Minister of State may encourage this, but he is not willing to pay for it and use money to back up his words. The exact opposite is the case, as money has been taken away from people continuously over the past three and a half years.

The Tánaiste indicated that water charges would be capped at €300 - this may be the Government's line, or perhaps the Tánaiste was on a solo run. The Cabinet has repeatedly stated that water charges are modest. If €25 per month is deemed to be modest, then the €5 child benefit increase is minuscule. This matter must be examined and overcome, because the legislation before us is a disgrace. It does not deal with poverty and will not relieve the poverty and deprivation facing children and their parents. This legislation means social welfare payments will probably not keep track with inflation in the coming year.

This Bill is accompanied by an explanatory memorandum that spends more time and space referring to what is not in the Bill than what is in it. In fairness, the officials probably had to pad it out, because it is a small Bill. Despite this, the list in the explanatory memorandum gives a far from comprehensive overview of cuts in recent years. I will add to the list of budgetary cuts for 2015 that the Government neglected to mention. Further cuts will be imposed on the one-parent family scheme; this is not mentioned in any of the budget documents or in the explanatory memorandum, but they come into effect in January 2015. I debated this issue with the Tánaiste on Tuesday but she failed to answer my questions in any shape or form. She went on blathering about something else, as is the norm for her. I raised the key issue of the income disregard and asked her to address the matter. Two days later she came into the House and proved that my approach was right; she had taken the time to reflect on what I raised on Tuesday and reversed the decision made last year. However, she did not say that the other changes to the one-parent family scheme that are to come into effect next year will be reversed.

On Tuesday, before the Tánaiste came before the House with her prepared speech, I outlined the scale of poverty in one-parent families.

These are the families who are dealing with children and who are more limited than other families in terms of getting out of poverty.

While this is something that affects all families but one-parent families are most at risk, a fact accepted in every report of recent years. Those most at risk of poverty have the highest consistent poverty rate at 17.4% and a rate of deprivation of almost 50% applies to almost 30% of families at risk of poverty. When I suggest almost 50% of children in lone-parent households have experienced deprivation I am referring to children who do not have a warm coat or two pairs of strong shoes or who cannot afford to eat meat, chicken or fish every second day. These are children whose homes are not adequately heated.

The latest reprieve for lone parents is welcome and the Tánaiste referred earlier to the income disregard. However, as I said earlier, this was preceded by a relentless list of cuts in each year that this Government has been in office. I urged the Tánaiste to abandon her plan to reduce the cut-off age to seven years in 2015 for children under the one-parent family payment. If the Tánaiste proceeds with the cut the effect will be to exclude thousands more lone parents from the one-parent family payment, meaning that an income disregard of only €60 will be available to them. The Tánaiste should reflect on that. For many, the move will negate the income disregard change announced this morning.

In 2012, the Tánaiste promised that she would not proceed with the cuts to the one-parent family payment without what she described as "a credible and bankable commitment" from the Government to put in place a system of safe, affordable and accessible child care. I am referring to the reduction from 12 years to ten year and then from ten to seven years. That has not happened. The Tánaiste can ask any parent about this safe, affordable and accessible child care system. It is not here, yet the Tánaiste had the opportunity to reverse this on Tuesday when I asked her about it. She has an opportunity to reverse it in this legislation, but there is nothing in place. I appeal once again to the Tánaiste to use the opportunity afforded by this Social Welfare Bill to address the anomaly. The Tánaiste gave a commitment not to proceed without a credible and bankable commitment from the Government to put in place a system, but that has not happened. It is another one of those empty promises from the Tánaiste.

The Deputy before me spoke about the respite care grant. We all have alternatives and an opportunity to discuss what changes can be made. When the Tánaiste introduced the cut to the respite care grant I remember the horror from carers throughout the country, many of whom contacted my office. I presume they contacted the offices of every other Deputy as well. The fact is that this Government has targeted those who are caring for loved ones. In many cases, these people gave up full-time jobs to save this State money. They did not do it for that reason but because they wanted to care full-time for their loved ones. They would do it for nothing if they could. The answer this State gave them was a cut of €325 to the respite care grant.

The Carers Association issued a press statement on budget day in which the association expressed its anger, on behalf of all carers, that the cut made to the respite care grant was not remedied in this budget. The Government had a golden opportunity and it would have been lauded by everyone in this House and many outside the House but it chose not to take that opportunity. Instead the Government has looked after the rich in society once again. The Government has looked after companies that do not pay the full rate of tax in this country. It has also looked after companies which are now disappearing with their money to other countries in Europe that have a better tax regime.

The Carers Association described the grant as a lifeline for over 77,000 family carers. The association said it was devastated that family carers had been neglected. Budget 2015 should have included targeted relief for family carers but it did not. The Tánaiste said to me in the Chamber only a month ago that she promised carers some relief in budget 2015 but she has not live up to that promise. A number of carers and associated organisations gave presentations at a meeting of Deputies that I organised in the audiovisual room two or three weeks ago. One carer said that when a parent gets the shattering diagnosis about her child or hears such words as, "Your child has cancer", she does not lose her intelligence or the ability to recognise condescending words when she hears them. Carers know full well that the Government did not prioritise them in this budget.

The true priorities of this Government have been exposed by the failure to address the cut in the respite care grant. Family carers have all the same pressures as the general population and then some. Mortgages or rents still have to be paid. There are rising utility bills, grocery bills, property taxes and, if the Government has its way, in January there will be water charges as well. We can add to that the cost of housing adaptations and private speech and language or physiotherapy sessions, because the State is not supplying enough or cannot supply enough because, once again, it is looking after the private sector instead. Let us not forget that bin charges include the weight of adult nappies to name but one additional cost. That is not taken into account when people get the carers allowance or the respite care grant.

The role of carer involves significant mental and emotional strain. Recent research by the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland found that more than half of family carers experienced a significant mental health issue, which could include depression and anxiety. The vulnerability of carers to health problems is compounded by the financial pressures to which they are subjected. In view of financial pressures many do not avail of medical advice or intervention as quickly as they should because they are too busy trying to ensure that the person they are caring for is looked after to the fullest. However, the respite care grant cut has meant that they have limited ability to avail of respite or any supports.

A government cannot make it all better but it can try to tackle some of the associated burdens that this Government has landed on top of those dependent on social welfare and, in this case, those who are dependent on us totally because they are full-time carers of people who are vulnerable. The Government could begin to tackle the financial burden that they must endure by undoing the €325 cut to the respite care grant, but that is only a first step. I urge the Government to reconsider the matter and perhaps bring forward an amendment on Committee Stage.

An online petition was launched recently and, as far as I know, it has almost 3,500 signatures at this stage. Many who signed it are carers. I urge the Tánaiste to study the petition and in particular the comments, because the comments are very important. Many of these are from carers. If I get the opportunity I will read some of them into the record. It would be valuable to hear testimony from the carers themselves rather than my talking about it or trying to represent it.

The Minister has an opportunity to address this on Committee Stage in two weeks and after that on Report Stage. In that time, she should look into her soul, if she can find it, and introduce a change in the legislation.

I refer to some of the comments on the online petition, Restore Respite Care Grant. Carly writes: "I am a single mum on carers and I am finding it difficult to get by on what the government is giving me to live on think how much you are saving by the family who care for the disabled its time you realised that people can't live on what you give them." Lynn from the west of Ireland says: "This really hit the most vulnerable and must be reversed. It would cost the state so much more only for the carers." Veronica says: "I am a carer myself. I care for my son who has ASD. Life is hard and the respite care grant helps toward a holiday for my child and his sister which would be impossible without the grant." Athena says: "Like most cuts to the most vulnerable in our society, this shouldn't have been cut and it most certainly shouldn't have been ignored around the budget. The state constantly take from the most vulnerable in society and people let it happen because it doesn't effect you but it could one day and even if it doesn't it doesn't make what the government continue to do any less wrong." There are many other such comments.

There are other measures which are not included in the Bill which the Government could have introduced if it had taken heed of my party's alternative budget or the submissions made by other people before it proceeded with its budget arithmetic. There are alternatives, as we have said continuously. The Government takes the decisions and it suffers the consequences of that. My party supplied the Government with a fully costed pre-budget submission. It is no harm if the Minister looks at it, even if she might not agree with it.

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