David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, said earlier that she understands the difficulties workers face. She also said that politicians and political parties should be judged on their actions and not their words. So, let us judge this Minister and this Government and Fine Gael on their actions when it comes to workers. What about the Debenhams workers who are striking at the moment in the cold and rain and who have been abandoned by the same Minister and by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party. What have they done for the Debenhams workers? Precious little.

Let us judge this Government on what it did for those on the minimum wage. It gave them a lousy 10 cent an hour increase, yet there were three pay increases in two years for politicians and Members of this House. That is what people outside this House will judge Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil and the Green Party on. There is only one reason the Government climbed down on the pensions issue. I debated it with Fine Gael Ministers months before the general election. They were enthusiastic supporters of increasing the pension age to 67. Fianna Fáil was a bit more sheepish, but it supported it nonetheless. The closer we got to the election, the more its position started to soften and then after the election, the party did a somersault and a U-turn. It did it because of the way people voted and because it saw the writing on the wall. The party got a proverbial kick up the backside from the electorate, rightly so, because it was betraying them. It was saying to construction workers, those who work on the front line and those who work in really difficult jobs that they must work until they are 67, but politicians can retire on a big, fat pension at the age of 65. People saw the hypocrisy for what it is.

This will come down to an issue of trust. The Minister has set up a commission and, in so far as it goes, we commend it, but I do not trust Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael. I know the same enthusiastic Fine Gael members that debated with me and other members of my party and wanted to enthusiastically support increasing the pension age to 67 have not gone away. They will be back, but we will ensure that does not happen. If people really want to ensure the pension age does not increase, they should continue to vote for my party, Sinn Féin, and others.

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