Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We know that. That has long been the party's policy. It wants to tax the working man and woman into oblivion. This Government takes a different approach. We want to support ordinary working people and their families. That is why we had a double payment of child benefit and why we brought in three universal energy credits so that families can get €600 off their energy bills. It is why we have reduced income tax. It is why we have reduced childcare costs by 25%. It is why we have reduced school transport costs and the student contribution fees. This Government stands by working families and we will never apologise for supporting them. Sinn Féin wants to abandon them.

I have listened to the Sinn Féin Deputies pontificate about what the Government should be doing. Let us look at Sinn Féin's record. Sinn Féin is the largest party in Northern Ireland and it has been in office there for decades. So what has it achieved? One in five people in Northern Ireland live in poverty. One out of every four children live in poverty. Half of all households in Northern Ireland are facing fuel poverty. That is the record of Sinn Féin in office. The basic state pension in Northern Ireland is £141. The contributory pension here is €265. If you qualify for the fuel allowance and the living alone allowance, it could be up to €320 per week. That is more than double what pensioners in Northern Ireland receive. As far as the two faces of Sinn Féin are concerned, €320 is not good enough for the pensioner in Castleblaney but £140 is more than enough for the man or woman from Crossmaglen. Sinn Féin is trying to ride two horses. It comes in here tonight and it shouts that our social welfare rates are inadequate but it is a very different story when it is campaigning in the North. There it is going around telling everybody how much better off they will be in a united Ireland. Well, it would be better off now when it comes to their pension and social welfare but that would soon change if Sinn Féin got into Government. Its Deputies talked about what this Government did not do in the budget so I am going to have to look at Sinn Féin's budget submissions. Sinn Féin did not propose any expansion of the fuel allowance for older people. It let old people who have worked all their lives go cold. This Government has expanded the fuel allowance in a major way for people over 70 years. Then Sinn Féin Deputies talked about the working family payment when its own budget proposals would have seen thousands of families have their working family payments cut. That is because it did not increase the income thresholds to take account of the rise in the minimum wage. It is the same old story with Sinn Féin. Its sums do not add up. It always forgets to carry the one.

Its motion spoke of a discretionary fund. This is the third time it has talked about this. The first time it suggested it, it wanted a €5 million fund. Then it proposed a €15 million fund and now it is back again but this time it has not even bothered to put a figure on it, just to set up a discretionary fund: no costings; no criteria; nothing. Now, if a school child handed that in, you would tell them to go back and do their homework. For information, the Government has paid our €58 million in additional needs payments targeted at people in financial difficulties. Sinn Féin always seems to forget one simple fact of life which is that everything has to be paid for. The reason this Government was able to support people during the pandemic, why we have been able to support people over the last year with the cost of living and why we will be able to provide further supports over the coming weeks is due to sound economic management. Unemployment is at a record low. Ireland has the fastest growing economy in Europe. Listening to Sinn Féin speakers tonight, they seem to think that having a strong economy is a bad thing and that it is something to be ashamed of. Do they realise we need a strong economy to pay for all these supports? Sinn Féin cannot even grasp that basic economic reality. At every step of the way, on every policy it has opposed us. None of these supports would be possible under Sinn Féin because its policies are trash and would crash the economy. Sinn Féin is very good at telling everybody how to spend money but it is not so good at telling us where to find it or how to pay the bills. Sinn Féin does not seem to believe in paying some of its bills. You just have to look at the paper today.

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