John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not wish to go into critical mode. Much has been said about the cuts to child benefit, grants for school clothing and rent payments and taxing maternity benefit. It is accepted across the world, even by the World Health Organization, that the issues of social welfare and poverty are interlinked. The vast majority of those who are impoverished are on very low pay or in receipt of social welfare payments. I accept that there are people in receipt of minimum payments and even moderate payments who suffer poverty.

The fact remains that in Ireland, statistics show that without a social welfare payment, 50% of the population would be in some form of poverty, which is an incredible figure. In 2013, 698,000 people were living below the poverty line, of whom 218,000 were children. As all Members are aware, the health effects for people in receipt of social welfare benefits can be catastrophic because they do not have private health insurance. Housing can be catastrophic because they cannot afford to buy their own house, are in local authority housing and can be in arrears with rent. Education can be catastrophic for such people and so on. Last Christmas, when dealing with people in receipt of social welfare, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul used the term "catastrophic" to describe the situation in Dublin. Studies show that social welfare rates are not adequate to provide a standard of living that is perceived to be acceptable to all those who do not wish to see people living with a poor quality of life. Interestingly, while one can balance that up between a minimum wage, an adequate wage, a livable wage and so on, the United Nations has stated the minimum standard of living is one which meets a person's physical, psychological and social needs. This applies to everybody who lives in a country and consequently, each Member must ask himself or herself whether he or she is comfortable and confident that people who are in receipt of social welfare payments, many of them through no fault of their own because of recession after recession and the downturn in the economy find themselves with poor qualities of life.

While in my office, I listened to the debate and was taken aback by some speakers on the Government benches. One speaker suggested everything was going well, people now are being looked after well and it is better than it was because there is a fair tax system and so on. It also was suggested that were it possible to get in more tax, one could pay out more in social welfare and so on. At present, statistics show that Ireland is home to more than 3,000 people who are recognised as non-domiciliary for the purposes of avoiding tax worldwide in respect of the capital gains tax regime. Moreover, all Members are aware, as was stated in an article published in The Irish Timesa few weeks ago, that companies are legally avoiding paying billions in corporate tax. Apple has been called the Holy Grail of tax avoidance. A question was put to the Minister for Finance approximately 18 months ago regarding the top 5%, 10% and 20% of earners. Incidentally, I am not against anyone earning big money; many of my friends earn more money than do I and that is fine. Astonishingly, however, the aforementioned 5%, 10% and 20% were paying less tax than the average PAYE earner in Ireland. As these are the Minister's own statistics, the money is there to avoid having this number of people living below an adequate income, as referred to by the United Nations, Social Justice Ireland and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

The Minister of State and I both are aware one cannot live on €188 or €220 per week or €350 per week if one has a family or whatever. It simply is not possible. Should one not have a television? The consequence of having a television is one must pay for it and for a provider. Should one not have a car? Should one not be able to buy a computer? Any reasonably-minded person will know many people in receipt of social welfare do not have that comfort in life and do not have the quality of life they deserve. I wish I had more time but unfortunately I do not. It comes back to the balance of poverty and social welfare, which are inextricably linked. It is unfortunate the State has not dealt with this in a substantial way. A few bob may be given here or there, this or that rate will be increased but at the end of the day, one finds statistics still show the poverty levels may have dropped or increased by 2% but the same substantive number of people are affected by poverty. To conclude, all the statistics show the vast majority of them are in receipt of social welfare payments.

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