Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Last week the Taoiseach mislead the Dáil on the health proposals contained in Sinn Féin's alternative budget. He also did this on the North in responding to questions from Teachta Mary Lou McDonald two weeks ago. Incidentally, he gave an entirely untruthful account of the Northern talks process in an interview with the Irish Examinerand in Government briefings for The Irish Timestoday. The substance of these issues and the reason he did it are matters for another time; I raise them now to illustrate my main point which is do we believe the Taoiseach or do we believe Fianna Fáil. Yesterday in this Chamber the Taoiseach said Fianna Fáil had not raise with him the need to reverse the unfair 2012 changes to the State pension which disproportionately impacts on women. As he knows, tens of thousands of men and women are not receiving a full State pension. These are senior citizens who get up as early as the Taoiseach or me every morning if they are able, and many are losing as much as €30 every week.

Sinn Féin in its alternative budget which the Taoiseach has said he has read proposed to reverse this injustice, but the Government ignored this proposal, just as the previous Government did when we made the same proposal last year. Furthermore, in December Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil blocked a Sinn Féin motion which called for the 2012 changes to be reversed. There were a number of opportunities for the Government to deal with this issue, but it refused to do so. When the Taoiseach says Fianna Fáil did not raise this important issue with him, he might clarify that he means the Fianna Fáil leader, but despite not raising it with the Taoiseach, Deputy Mícheál Martin has now tabled a Dáil motion to achieve the very outcome his party blocked last December and which it did not see fit to raise with the Taoiseach during the negotiations on last week's budget. Is the Fianna Fáil leader in breach of the confidence and supply agreement? The reason Deputy Mícheál Martin did not raise the issue with the Taoiseach is he had signed off on the confidence and supply agreement which did not include a remedy for this discrimination against these pensioners. That is why he did not want it to be included in the budget. Last week the Government and Fianna Fáil concluded negotiations which led to the totally bonkers and unbelievable budget. Now, following justifiable outrage, Deputy Mícheál Martin has done a U-turn and wants to change an essential part of his agreement with the Government. It is very likely that the Government will lose the vote on the matter if Fianna Fáil continues with its U-turn. Will the Taoiseach say where the confidence and supply agreement will stand in that case? Will the Social Welfare Bill remedy this issue? When will these pensioners get their money?

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