Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Last night, behind closed doors, the Government agreed to legislation that will result in arms of the State becoming debt-collecting agencies for utility companies. There was no fanfare, no press release, no standing on Government steps with the Taoiseach on one side of the Tánaiste and the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, on the other. I must put it to the Tánaiste: where has the basic decency of the Labour Party gone? We now have a situation in which an arm of the State will be a debt-collecting agency for a utility company, with no ability-to-pay clause in the primary legislation. One in eight children are living in poverty, and people are struggling on social welfare payments, although there has been a huge cut in those payments, including the cost of education allowance, the fuel allowance, the back to school allowance, the one-parent family allowance, farm assist, household packages and respite care grants. The CSO's recent figures show that there has been a 2% decrease in real family income. There is huge pressure on families, yet we now have a situation in which people in extreme poverty will be dragged to the courts and attachment orders will be made to their social welfare payments or their basic wages.

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