Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

It is unfortunate that the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection is not present to hear what we have to say in respect of this very important matter.

The continual boast of the Government in recent years has been that there have been no cuts to social welfare rates. I wish to provide three examples of how this boast can be completely turned on its head. The first example relates to child benefit which, over a six-year period, has been cut by €400 million. Only €70 million of that was given back in the recent budget. The Tánaiste boasted that she is giving back €5 per month per child. That is the equivalent of 2 litres of milk and a sliced pan for a child for a month. It is this that the Government is boasting about as representing the end of austerity. By any standards, those opposite will be obliged to admit that the overall cut to child benefit still stands at €330 million.

The second example of an area which, quite unbelievably, the Government claims to have left untouched is rent supplement. On average, this was cut by 28% in the period from 2009 to 2012. This means that people are now obliged to find a whopping amount of money to pay their share of their rent. Those in government should not forget the number of people who are in the private rented sector. That number is already huge and it continues to grow as a result of the housing crisis. Over 30% of all families are obliged to rent. This is despite the existence of the fabled Irish gene which makes us all want to own our homes. The cuts to rent supplement have obliged the poorest in society to pay increasingly large top-ups to their landlords. As a result, families are more likely to be evicted because they simply cannot meet rising rents. The Tánaiste, Deputy Burton, is on record as stating: "There will be no incidence of homelessness due to these changes." It is clear that hundreds of people have been made homeless as a result of the changes in question. Mr. Mike Allen, one of the leading people in Focus Ireland, a former general secretary of the Labour Party and hardly likely, therefore, to be having a go at that party for no reason, has stated that "Government policy on rent supplement is one of the immediate causes of the sharp rise of family homelessness". This is a direct contradiction of the propaganda put out by the Government.

Like the Tánaiste, I represent the constituency of Dublin West. I have many cases on my books but there are three, in particular, which I wish to cite. The first relates to a young woman who gave birth by Caesarean section and who was discharged into a Travelodge hotel with her other four children. Do those in government who are bragging about the end of austerity believe this represents decent treatment of young women and others in society? The young woman in question is in a highly dangerous situation, particularly as she is obliged to sterilise bottles for her baby, etc. She has found herself homeless on many weekends and has been moved around on four or five occasions. The second case relates to a man in his 60s with diabetes and arthritis who visited me at my constituency office and informed me that he travels to Dublin Airport several nights each week in order to find somewhere warm to sleep where he will not be harassed. The third case relates to a large family on the edge of being made homeless from whom I have just received a text. They have been battling with their landlord for a long period and the text indicates that the latter has just erected a "For Sale" sign outside their front door.

Nothing has been done to help all of those families and individuals who are on rent allowance and who are prey to private landlords. Instead, the Government threw another few hundred million in the direction of landowners and landlords. Obviously, however, the biggest attack it has made on those in receipt of social welfare is water charges. The greatest austerity measure facing the entire population, regardless of whether one is working, is water charges. Incredibly, people on social welfare are going to be obliged to pay the same amount as millionaires. That is the reality. The household package of €100 equates to what has now been announced for those who register. In other words, everyone who registers to pay water charges will receive a discount of €100. I am of the view that no one should pay water charges and that the Government is going to be faced with a mass campaign of non-payment. If this Administration does not relent, then this issue has the potential to bring it to its knees. It is incredible that those opposite have seen fit to decide that people on social welfare, whom they claim to have been protecting for many years and who were the justification for Labour's participation in this Government, will be obliged to pay the same amount in water charges as the rich. The current position is that a family in receipt of an income of €20,000 per year will pay the same as someone in receipt of €2 million. Is it any wonder that people are stating they will not pay? They cannot pay and they certainly will not pay. At a time when the Government claims that the economy is in recovery, why should people pay such inordinate amounts in water charges?

As as been stated on previous occasions, the Government could have considered other avenues to raise the money it requires. A wealth or millionaire's tax of even 0.5%, introduced as an emergency measure, could have paid for the water charges. Obviously, such a tax should be imposed at a much higher rate. These people have increased their wealth by more than 12% during the recession and they have huge incomes. One in eight of such people are tax exiles. It is no wonder the people took to the streets last week, particularly when the Taoiseach saw fit to visit Mr. Denis O'Brien. This character is a tax exile who owns half the media in this country, who has a huge vested interest in Irish Water and who obtained an audience with our Taoiseach. Did those in government expect the people just to roll over in respect of that matter? Is this man, who seems to have obtained a number of sweetheart deals from Fine Gael over the years, a member of the Cabinet?

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