Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

It is what is in the Bill. That is the point I am making. The implication is that doctors are lying and writing false testimonies on a large scale. I do not believe that for a minute. Even if there are a small number of abuses, the idea that the Government would frame the legislation on the presumption that large numbers of GPs are lying is rubbish. It is an absolutely unacceptable way to frame legislation, particularly when the alternative is to depend on deciding officers who are not medically qualified. I believe that, by and large, when GPs say someone needs support, they need it. That should be enough.

Having thought it over and in view of what is going on here, I believe we have no choice but to vote against the Bill. I have no wish to vote against the back-to-work family dividend, not because it is sufficient compensation for the axing of the one-parent family payment for children over the age of seven years - it is not - but because it is a marginal improvement on the decision made in 2012. It should not be lumped in with a regressive move which will tighten the eligibility criteria for carers and for a significant cohort of others on an ongoing basis for years to come, including people who are vulnerable, disabled and infirm. These people need support. They should not have extra unnecessary hoops put in front of them to claim their entitlements. These two things should not be lumped together.

I want to make it absolutely clear in saying I am voting against the Bill that I am against it on the basis of what the Government is doing around the eligibility criteria for carers. If the Government were cognisant of this, it could easily introduce amendments in the Seanad that would separate out the two issues. That would allow us not to oppose the parts of the Bill that will improve the situation for lone parents without forcing us simultaneously to endorse something that will disimprove the situation for vulnerable, ill, disabled and infirm people. The Government should not ask us to lump those two things together.

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