Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

They think the people can be taken for fools again. They think they can stand on the back of a lorry every second week. The Government's credibility has been shot on these and many other issues. Whether the election is in one week, a year or in 15 months, the Government will be found out in that regard.

I note that Dr. Crotty, a consultant haematologist in Tullamore and a spokesperson for the consultants and physicians, and the INMO, have said that when they see patients on trolleys they lack privacy, confidentiality and dignity. It also threatens patient care. Dr. Crotty claims that studies show mortality rates increase by up to 30% in such circumstances. When in Government, my party did not build state-of-the-art hospitals, such as the one in Tullamore, for the Minister of State and her colleagues to allow a situation whereby patients are faced with the risk of a 30% increase in mortality because the 11% rise in patient numbers has not been matched with adequate staff.

To return to the issues of equality and fairness, they offer equal opportunities in order to help people to achieve their dreams. The Minister of State referred to problems in employing hospital staff. Over the Christmas period, I received a letter from a constituent, as follows:

Dear Barry,

There have been changes to the benefits applicable to single parents whose child is seven or more. These changes mean that I may have to drop out of my midwifery course and become long-term dependent on the State. Until the changes, a single parent could return to full-time education, retain a single parent allowance and receive the maintenance grant, subject to the means test. Such parents took on their courses on the basis of the supports existing at that time. They had worked out that the grant would make it possible to cover the cost relating to return to education, such as travel, books, accommodation and child care. They had a legitimate expectation that these supports would not be pulled once the course had begun. Under the changes, single parents already in full-time education whose child is seven or older in July 2015 must change their single parent allowance to the back to education allowance, which is the same amount. But they can no longer receive the student grant. Or they can keep the grant but lose their other payment.

This lady only became aware of this when she visited her local citizens' information centre recently. She will lose her grant after July 2015. Subsequently, believe it or not, it was suggested to her on the telephone by a social welfare official that the way to retain her payments was to have another child. She would then have a child under seven and would not be affected by the new rules.

Her letter continues:

I am studying to be a midwife and there is an acute shortage of these professionals at this present time. I did a year on the back-to-nursing course and am now in year two of a four-year degree course in Trinity. I love my course and cannot wait to be a qualified midwife working in Ireland and off benefits. However, the rule changes mean that I cannot continue. I live with my mother in Portlaoise and commute to Dublin by train daily while I have lectures. I cannot afford to live in Dublin and, in any case, my daughter is settled in school in Portlaoise and my mother cares for her when I am away. Any financial support I get from the father of my child is intermittent. I will get a grant of €5,915 until the end of this academic year. It just about covers the cost incurred by returning to full-time education. Apart from my travel costs, I have to pay €50 a week for accommodation while I am on placement in the maternity hospital I am assigned to in Dublin. I also have to eat out when living here, as there are no cooking facilities. My mother, who is separated, cannot help financially. I am repaying a loan I was forced to take out when my grant was paid late. The loan is at very high interest rates, as normal lenders would not accept me.

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