Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

This is blatant discrimination against young people.

By definition, the payment is a poverty income for young people. That is what the Minister is imposing on young people.

If other arguments do not sway her, she should consider the fact that we need to get our young people back to the country. Having a discriminatory reduced rate is not exactly an incentive or encouragement for the many young people who are leaving this country to come back. It, alongside the housing crisis, is also contributing significantly to overcrowding in many family homes because young people simply cannot afford to leave home. There is unacceptable overcrowding in many households.

The Minister should end this blatant discrimination based on age. There is no other way to define it. It was never justified. Even its architects are now acknowledging that, but in the era of so-called economic recovery, it is completely obnoxious and unacceptable.

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