Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left) | Oireachtas source

I support the amendments. They are very important as they reflect whether what is said by Members on this side of the House or what the Minister says is correct.

The recent UNICEF report only covered up to 2013, so it does not take into account the budget cuts of 2013 and 2014. It would be interesting to see how much those two budgets have impacted on the poverty outlined in the report. The fact that a quarter of families have lost a decade of progress, according to the report, is a damning indictment of this Government continuing the budget cuts of the previous Government. That 130,000 children are living in poverty and 16% of 15 to 24 year olds are not in training or education is also a damning indictment of the Government and, in general, of the world's economies.

The point made by Deputy Boyd Barrett about the transfer of wealth is important. It is the policies of governments that have allowed the successful transfer of wealth into the hands of the very wealthy. The Oxfam report showed that the collective wealth of the 85 richest billionaires in the world increases by $668 dollars per day. That is unbelievable. They would fit into a double decker bus. They own the same amount of wealth as the poorest half of the world's population. That situation is reflected in Ireland, where the collective wealth of the 300 wealthiest people increased by over €6 billion last year to over €70 billion. Andy Haldane, chief economist of the Bank of England, who is certainly not a rabid socialist, has said that a billionaire wealth tax of even 1.5% on the wealth of the 85 billionaires would yield $74 billion per year. I and other Members on this side of the House have made the point that even a 10% wealth tax on the more than €70 billion of the wealthiest people in this country would yield €7 billion, which could have a huge impact on dealing with some of the issues we have been discussing today.

We have been told there is a turnabout in the economy and that it is moving forward. There was a fanfare about Black Friday and Cyber Monday, with retailers trying to get people into their shops. There were price reductions of 10% and 20%, and 40% in some shops, but it transpired that the retailers did not get the boost they expected. People do not have the money. Certain people have the money but the majority do not have surplus money to buy consumer goods, even for Christmas. Anybody who had cash last weekend would have been trying to get the Christmas presents for cheaper prices, rather than waiting to face the full cost of gifts, and trying to put food on the table.

These amendments would go a long way towards looking at why that transfer of wealth is happening and how to tackle it. I assume the Tánaiste, wearing her Labour Party hat, would have to support that as well. Otherwise, I and everybody else would think that something is going on behind the scenes in order to prevent people from having transparency to see exactly what is happening.

Many points have been made about the cuts that have been imposed and I will not repeat them. However, one that has not been mentioned is the cut in maternity benefit. That had a big impact on women as their maternity benefit was cut during their maternity break from work.

My last point is that if the Minister does not accept these amendments, it will only fuel the sense among people that something is wrong. People already feel that way, and the water tax is the straw that broke the camel's back in that regard. People just cannot take any more. They will rebel and will exercise their democratic right to go out on the streets on 10 December. They are calling for this Government to step down and let them elect a new Government that will reflect their thinking. I do not accept that we were forced to accept these measures. We could have refused to do many things. One example which I mentioned previously is the €18.1 million the Government had in its coffers at the beginning of this year. It chose to pay off the debt of €7 billion, but that could have been put into much needed services in our society rather than paying that debt. These are the issues people are watching. They are saying this Government has choices but they are making bad choices for this country.

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