Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My view, and that of many elderly people and many others in society, on the budget can be summarised in a few simple words, namely, €3, three miserable euro. That is what this Bill is about. It is the most miserable bit of legislation that has been brought before us. We are saying to elderly people that we will give them a miserable €3 and that they should be grateful. People are not grateful and it is important the Government appreciates that. All one had to do was meet people on the morning following the budget and ask what they thought. All they said was, "Three miserable euro". That is the hallmark of the Social Welfare Bill. The Government almost seems to think people should show it gratitude for the wonderful job it has done and the great improvements that have been made to the economy. The view seems to be that they are lucky to get something. The Government is giving them €3.

The sum of €3 would not pay for people's prescriptions charges or water bills. It is miserable and people know that, as does the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Humphreys, who might say it is the first increase in a while. In contrast, even though Fianna Fáil worked within the same very tight financial parameters as the Government on budget day, we felt it was appropriate in our document to talk about a €5 increase and we said where the funding for it would come from.

It is bad enough that the increase was only €3, which is the increase for a single person on the State pension. Let us look at what the Government did for a couple on the State pension, two elderly people living together. It will give €3 to the person aged over 66 and a proportionate increase to the person in receipt of the qualified adult allowance. The allowance is 70% of the primary payment so the second person in the house will get €2.10. They will not even get the three miserable euro. The Government is saying to the spouse that €2.10 is all he or she will get. When one adds the two payments, it is €5.10 between the two. That is €2.55 per person. The Government might say it is giving some people €3 but, in reality, most elderly couples in receipt of the pension will get €2.55 each. One could ask how far that will go towards the payment of prescription charges. People believe there is a lack of generosity and a lack of spirit.

There is much money in society. In the past 13 months, the Government announced additional expenditure of €7.3 billion over and above what had been in the previous year’s budget. In October last year, before the budget, the Government said there would have to be a negative adjustment of €2 billion but on budget day, it found an additional €3 billion. There was not a negative €2 billion adjustment but a positive adjustment of €1 billion in terms of the turnaround of €3 billion the Government announced on budget day just one year and two weeks ago.

Shortly after the Government made an announcement on the €3 billion, it introduced a Supplementary Estimate last year of €1.2 billion. It was great money. Prior to this year’s budget, the Government made an announcement concerning €1.5 billion. However, 48 hours before budget day, the Government announced another €1.6 billion in Supplementary Estimates. I might have missed something but in terms of those particular measures over the past 13 months, the Government has been able to find an extra €7.3 billion. God knows where the Government has put it because people are not seeing the value of it.

The Government has said to an elderly person living with his or her spouse on the State pension that out of the €7.3 billion, it will give him or her €2.55 a week or €3 if he or she is a widow or widower or a person living on his or her own. There is not a shortage of funds. The Government has demonstrated that over the past 13 months. Nobody can say the Government has been acting in a prudent manner. It has been spending a lot of money which has come in as windfall gains in taxes.

3 o’clock

From where is that money coming? The Government is increasing, on an ongoing basis, basic permanent expenditure on the basis of windfall taxes and receipts. Were people to identify any particular mistake that happened during the property boom in the past, it was that expenditure was ramped up on the basis of stamp duty and property tax receipts, that is, once-off stand-alone taxes that were not guaranteed to be repeated in the future. This is precisely what the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection and the Minister for Finance have done this year. An additional €1.6 billion in corporation tax has been received but the Minister for Finance has no idea why he got it. Neither he nor anybody else predicted it and there is no guarantee it will carry forward into next year. It was a once-off increase of €1.6 billion over and above expectations. Additional income also arose this year from dividends from the Central Bank, which is a carry-over from dealing with the IBRC liquidation issue. Although such dividends will not carry on into the future but will peter out as time passes, the Government has managed to increase expenditure this year beyond the expenditure ceilings announced on budget day last year. I note these expenditure ceilings have a legislative basis and the Government has both breached the ceilings for 2015 and the ceilings it has in place for 2016, which it announced 12 months ago. While I acknowledge the Minister is only required to notify the Dáil when he changes the expenditure ceiling, this is an example of the extra money the Government has had at its disposal. Expenditure ceilings this year went out the door and expenditure ceilings for next year have gone completely. Although €7 billion was available, it went on three miserable euro to the State pensioners and they know that. There was a debate in November between the two Government parties, with one option being to go to the country on foot of the announcement of the budget, after which people would know they would get an increase. However, the views of others prevailed and it was decided to wait until people actually have the money in their hand next January and to hold a spring election. While the Government has chosen the latter option, it should not expect gratitude when the married couple in receipt of the State pension receive that miserable €5.10 between them and when they hear of all the money that has been available up to now.

This budget and the Government's previous budgets have been highly regressive. Ultimately, the story of the present Administration will be of net regressive budgets. As I have been highlighting, additional money is available this time but it will not make up for some of the regressive budgets of previous years. A couple of weeks ago, I sat in this Chamber listening to the Minister, Deputy Howlin, and one issue struck me immediately that day, namely, an issue regarding the family income support administered by the Department of Social Protection. The issue, to which I referred immediately after hearing the statement, is that the budget increases the threshold for family income supplement by €5 for the first child and €10 for the second and subsequent children, apparently to offset the increase in the national minimum wage. However, the increase in these thresholds is not sufficient given the 50 cent per hour increase in the minimum wage for a person who works a 40-hour week as it would yield an increase of €20 in his or her basic wage, or perhaps €19.50 if such a person works a 39-hour week. I welcome this increase of 50 cent per hour in the minimum wage and Fianna Fáil at all stages has supported it. In our submission to the commission in this regard, we actually proposed an increase of 55 cent, which it is a matter of public record. Fianna Fáil proposed this increase in this calendar year, to come into effect for next year, and that translates to a weekly increase of approximately €20. However, the Government is increasing the threshold for family income supplement by €5, which I read to mean that many people will be removed from the scope of the family income supplement. While the detail can be teased out on Committee Stage, on the face of it, the increase in the family income supplement threshold does not match the increase in the minimum wage. If this is the case, this change must be reversed and that can be teased out in further detail. If the way in which I am putting this point is not completely correct, the matter can be clarified in due course but on the face of it, given the announcement on budget day, it was reasonable to arrive at the conclusion I reached and which I reiterate today. If further detail is thrashed out on Committee Stage on this issue, it will represent an improvement on the budget day announcement. Nevertheless, concern exists that people on low incomes will encounter a difficulty as a result of this measure.

In respect of lone parents, the change to the eligibility criteria to qualify for the one-parent family payment that came into effect last July was a particularly callous move on the part of the Government. There is little in this year's budget from which lone parents can take comfort and this is a matter that again will come up extensively on the doorsteps.

While there are many items to consider in this budget, one of the biggest issues is that of housing and the rent supplement. I lay the chaos that exists in housing fairly and squarely at the door of the Labour Party, not on Fine Gael. Members are aware of what Fine Gael do and we know their type. They do not care or are not particularly concerned about people on the margins of homelessness, who are not their core people. However, I would have thought they were core voters of the Labour Party. In truth, once the top 30% are flying, which they are-----

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