Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to speak on the spring bonus proposal from An Teachta Doherty, which is a care package for people depending of social protection. “Social protection” are not dirty words. Our care package focuses on people in real need: families, lone parents, carers, people with disabilities. It is the opposite of the bonus arrangements and pamper packages the Government devises and delivers for bankers. The bankers Government Members should care about are the increased number of people visiting food banks.

In north Kildare, many people do not refer to the cost of living anymore; they call it the cost of surviving, especially where, in real terms, social protection rates are effectively cut because of inflation. With the cost of survival rocketing, it is clear people need a hand from the State but feel they are getting another wallop when their new gas bill has left them floored. Across north Kildare, people are struggling with costs and this is amplified if they are dependent on social protection. Across the State, almost 12% exist on incomes below the poverty line. Barnardos tell us what those of us who read our emails already know, which is that food poverty is getting worse and worse. Up to 30% of respondents in their survey skip meals so their children can eat.

There is something fundamentally wrong about this. The Government is perverse. We have to think about this. It is all of us. We represent the people out there. This is bad for Ireland and for society. As long as the Government’s voter cohort is still happy, its Members do not seem to care about people being excluded, marginalised and left behind.

I know a man living in a caravan backed into a turf shed. He lights his fire in a concrete block outside his caravan to keep warm. He is not in Kharkiv, Türkiye or Syria but in Ireland. We have no war or earthquake, just social and political fault lines where people are ignored, lectured to and diminished in the society the Government is creating: “Keep it up, lads. Keep marching and we’ll march all over you.” It is no way to live and no way to govern. Our spring bonus is essential at this stage and the Government should withdraw its amendment.

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