Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

While I welcome the general increases in the Social Welfare Bill 2015, they do very little to alleviate the very difficult situations in which some of Ireland's most vulnerable people find themselves. Some 160,000 people have turned 65 since the recessionary 2009 budget and yet since then the telephone allowance has been abolished, the fuel allowance season has been cut by six weeks and the household benefits package has been reduced to a single rate.

The cutting off of the telephone allowance in recent years has been a very serious development, particularly for people in rural Ireland. It has forced thousands of pensioners to remove their vital landline service. The community alarm mechanism is connected to the landline phone. With the ongoing continuing wave of rural crime, the alarm system is of the utmost importance for the safety, well-being and security of our senior citizens. In many cases, those people are worried, live in fear and have sleepless nights and that is having an affect on their health and well-being. That is not satisfactory, given that they have contributed to the State and have been very good citizens. They should not be forced to live under these conditions without proper security alarm systems. They are in danger of assault, not to mind in danger of criminals breaking into their homes and taking their valuables. This is a particular concern as we face into the winter, with the long winter nights providing cover for those marauders who prowl round the country. I urge the Minister to amend this Bill to reinstate the telephone allowance. Some increase could also be made to the fuel allowance. Statistics show that Irish telephone costs are the sixth highest in Europe. The alternative to the landline is the mobile phone, which is not the answer, having regard to the intermittent coverage in my county of Kerry. Half of the county is a blackspot for mobile phone coverage. Therefore, people cannot rely on such coverage to contact the outside world.

Another issue is the prescription charges. Many older people are crippled by the imposition of prescription charges. They are a direct tax on our sick and the Government has done nothing to rectify that. A person living on the State pension is down €700 since 2008 in allowances and benefits and that is without taking account of the rising cost of living increases, charges and general taxes.

On the issue of the number of people living in consistent poverty, according to the most recent Central Statistics Office figures, the number has doubled since 2008. It is estimated that the number is now a staggering 376,000 people with an estimated 1.4 million people suffering deprivation since 2008. Overall, 700,000 people are at risk of poverty and of that number, unfortunately, 210,000 are children.

There has been a comprehensive analysis of this budget across the political spectrum but one consistent point has been made, namely, that this is the fifth regressive budget in a row. In saying it is regressive, I refer to the fact that there was more for the better off in our society than those at the bottom. A simple example that highlights that is the fact that a single person earning €75,000 a year is more than €900 better off while a single unemployed person is better off by €95. Unfortunately, this is widening the gap and it is very wrong.

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