Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move:

To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following:“has full confidence in the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection and commends her role in the Government’s achievements including:

— a comprehensive package of reform implemented by this Government including restoring freedom of information, regulation of lobbying, protection of whistleblowers, extending the jurisdiction of the Ombudsman, reform of the Public Appointments Service system, open Government initiatives and notes that the Public Sector Standards Bill 2015 is currently before Dáil Éireann;

— the introduction of the landmark Action Plan for Jobs and Pathways to Work programmes to tackle the unprecedented jobs crisis;

— the decrease in the unemployment rate to 8.8%, down from the crisis peak of 15.1%;

— the creation of 135,800 extra jobs since the Action Plan for Jobs and Pathways to Work programmes have been launched, with every region experiencing jobs growth over that time;

— the increase in the minimum wage for the second time, meaning that, by the end of this Government’s term, it will have increased by more than €3,000 a year;

— the transformation of the Department of Social Protection through the roll-out of the Intreo one-stop-shop employment and support service to support jobseekers getting back to work; and

— the turnaround in the Social Insurance Fund from a deficit of almost €2 billion to a projected surplus in 2016.”

I am pleased to have the opportunity to support the motion that the House has confidence in me as Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection. I was appointed Minister in 2011. By then, Fianna Fáil had cut social welfare benefits in a succession of budgets by €16.30 a week. It got rid of the Christmas bonus, slashed jobseeker's payments, disability payments, payments to carers and more besides. In the programme for Government negotiations, my colleagues and I insisted there would be no reductions in core welfare payments on our watch. We also insisted that public servants would be protected as far as possible and that there would be no increase in income tax rates or reduction in tax credits.

Now, five years later, I am very proud to say that together with our coalition partners we have managed to end the worst recession in Ireland in living memory while remaining true to those core commitments. Core welfare rates have been retained and because this Government has driven recovery and returned the public finances to health, I was in a position over the past two budgets to make a series of targeted welfare increases. These included the 75% restoration of the Christmas bonus in December, and an increase in the State pension, although small, this year.

I was also in position to increase child benefit and restore respite care grant in full, increase fuel allowances and the living alone allowance. During my time as Minister, I have had to deal with an unprecedented level of unemployment, the toxic inheritance of Fianna Fáil's reckless economic management. I was clear in my own mind from the start that I wanted the Department to go about its job in a different way, to move from being a passive provider of benefits to an active and engaged public employment service that served not just as a safety net when people fell, but as a trampoline to help them return to work, training and education.

To do this, we opened Intreo offices throughout the country where people can get personal assistance in getting back to work, training and education. We expanded training and work experience schemes and introduced incentive schemes such as JobsPlus to help employers hire people who had been long-term unemployed. As a result, unemployment has fallen dramatically in all parts of the country and all sectors of the economy. The job is not yet done but we are well on the way.

In 2011, we were approaching half a million people unemployed. Now we are just a few years away from full employment. In 2011, we were bankrupt; we could not pay to keep the country running and we could not borrow. Now we have sent the troika home, our borrowing rates are hardly more than 1% and the budget is close to balance.

In 2011, we were in deep recession. Now we are the fastest growing economy in Europe. In 2011, the Social Insurance Fund, which pays for crucial benefits for workers, was in crisis, with its deficit peaking at €2.7 billion. This year, it will be in surplus to the tune of €217 million.

The Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government cut the minimum wage. This Government has increased it twice and put in place a mechanism which will allow for further increases in the future. The Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government imposed USC on all incomes over €4,000. This Government has taken half a million people out of the USC net and reduced the rates on low and middle incomes. The Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government savagely cut public servants' pay in 2009 and 2010. By contrast, the Haddington Road agreement reduced pay only for those earning more than €65,000 and we have already started the process of reversing the Fianna Fáil cuts. In short, we are in a much better place than five years ago.

I do not claim all of the credit for this for the Labour Party or for the Government but we have played our part - an important part in what has been a major national achievement. It is a national achievement that has seen people give immensely to get the country back on its feet.

Apparently, it is my appointment of David Begg which prompted Deputy Ross to place the original motion of no confidence. Perhaps I am not the best person to make this observation but I will make it nonetheless. In all my years in this House, I cannot remember a no confidence motion which was so threadbare, flimsy and insubstantial.

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