Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Government has presented a striking message to the electorate this year in the form of a pre-election manifesto whereby people seeking equality should get a job because the best form of social protection will be that job. Most people had assumed the State should act as the best form of social protection but it appears they have been wrong all along. Today the Government has made clear that such protection is no more and people are to look towards the multinational, the company, the employer or the entrepreneur to provide them with social security, that is, if one can be found to take them on, like the people of County Donegal. The consequence of such a job-centred approach in budgetary policy means not only will social inequality and regional inequality continue to be felt across rural Ireland, it will prevail for another generation to come. Despite the positive outlooks for the economic recovery and economic growth projected by the Government, the social consequences that have been evident on foot of previous budgets will continue to divide this country.

For my constituency of Donegal, unfortunately a job-focused budget is not good news. High rates of unemployment, coupled with the rise in precarious employment, part-time and seasonal work has meant that working families have been obliged to rely even more on social welfare to supplement their incomes. Income supports such as jobseeker's benefit and farm assist and its income disregards were cut drastically in 2012 as part of the coalition's incentive to make work pay and families still cannot recover from these cuts.

When the pressures of additional taxes such as the property and water taxes are added, making work pay is a comical suggestion. The increase in the USC tax credit to €13,000 means that 700,000 working people will be removed from the tax net, but when account is taken of the 59,000 families in receipt of family income supplement, all the Government is doing is subsidising a low-pay economy for everybody. The increase in the income disregard for those on the jobseeker's transition allowance is a modest approach to increasing a parent's ability to remain in low-paid employment. This has been the focus of the Government.

Beyond the packages outlined today, the Government has missed an opportunity to reform the taxation system. Social Justice Ireland has presented a fairer, more transparent alternative which would make tax credits refundable. Such a reform would mean everybody with an earned income would receive the full value of tax credits, resulting in the main beneficiaries being low-paid employees and an improvement in the net income of workers whose incomes are lowest. For those who cannot work, there is very little in the budget, except for the carer's tax credit and the restoration of the respite care grant. The Government cannot be congratulated on bringing back the respite care grant, having taken it away in the first place, as in the case of so many of the measures included in the budget.

There is little in the budget in terms of supports for people with disabilities and others on the margins of society. There has been no restoration of the cuts made in recent years for the centres for independent living, family resource centres or services which support people across the country on low incomes or the unemployed. There are also no supports visible in the budget for rural Ireland. The move away from charging for the use of bank cards and towards a cashless society will place additional hardship on the 17% of our society without bank accounts. The Government has continued to refuse to allow the post office network to provide services similar to the standard bank account, which would benefit the people concerned. There is also no mention in the Minister's Budget Statement of financial inclusion.

Another vital support for rural Ireland is the retention of GPs. There is no mention in the budget of the restoration of the rural practice allowance and no recognition of the peripherality of areas such as County Donegal in the recruitment process to enable the retention of GPs. The provision of an additional €8 million for speech and language therapy for children is welcome. However, in a constituency such as County Donegal where the ratio for speech and language therapy services is 300:1 this money is but a small drop in the ocean.

Once again, this budget represents another missed opportunity for those on the margins of society. Unfortunately, based on the mantra of the Coalition, they will continue to be marginalised, as those with jobs have been prioritised. This is not the Ireland we want in the second century of statehood. It is a young country, but it is not naive and definitely not inexperienced. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, aptly referenced the 1916 Rising in his Budget Statement, a rising which was born to break away from the arbitrary forces of inequality and poverty and helped to lay the foundations on which statehood was possible. In terms of how the budget continues that journey, it does nothing to lift the people on the margins of society.

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