Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Speaking in this Chamber I said last month that this budget was another missed opportunity to move towards a fairer society. The intervening few weeks have not only reinforced that view, it has become clear. It has become clear that the budget is further enforcing a two-tier system that this Government is implementing across our public services. Jobseeker's payments increase by €5 but if someone is aged between 18 and 14, they will get €2.70 and if they are aged 15, they will get €3.80. A secondary school teacher who has recently entered the profession will be on a lower rate than previous entrants. New members of An Garda Síochána who are on a starting salary of €23,500 are sleeping in cars because they are unable to afford spiralling rent costs. It is clear to young people in this country that this is a two-tier society where the Government treats them differently based on their age and the fact that they are starting off in their professions. The costs of living for a jobseeker do not vary much between the ages 22 and 26 but the payment does. A jobseeker aged between 18 and 24 gets a payment of €102.70. A jobseeker aged 25 gets €147.80 and someone over 26 get the guts of €193 per week. No wonder our young people are emigrating. At the same time Deputies in this House are considering giving themselves a wage increase. It does not make sense.

I also said that the budget last month was a very mean one. I now think that this is an understatement. It is a vindictive budget where the Government divides young people merely by age. It is also vindictive to pensioners. The €5 increase, which will not appear until March, will be gone soon after. It will be gone to their yearly bin charges with no option for instalments or no bin waiver and the increased costs of living, such as car insurance and water charges for which no provision was made in the budget. Lone parents will now be better off transferring from in-work benefits to a jobseeker's payment. It is as if this Government and its enablers, Fianna Fáil, do not even consider what these budget measures do to the young, the vulnerable and the elderly. It does not cross their minds when they draft these measures. This mean and vindictive budget makes people feel less as citizens and more as a burden on our society. That is what this Government is doing.

It is time for the Government to change that attitude because we have to cherish all the children of our nation equally and not go down the road of this two-tier system.

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