Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will try anyway. I will start by wishing the Minister the very best on the birth of her grandchild. What a joyous occasion it must be for her. It is a bit unfortunate that she is here with us today but we will try and speed this up. I offer great congratulations to the Minister and her family. It is a beautiful thing to hear a child crying inside here, as we did a moment ago. It is a lovely sound and the Minister probably has many hours of that ahead of her. I wish her the best of luck.

If I could ask for indulgence, I must welcome Doireann Walsh, a student from St. Brogan’s College, Bandon, who is here today. She is a student of politics and law and has a very bright future ahead of her. She is very well trained by her grandfather. She has put a lot of this speech together for me so if it is in any way critical, Doireann might share some of the blame.

When it comes to the social welfare Bill, there is no point in everything being negative but being in opposition we have to look at things that need a lot more focus in the next budget. A lot of good social welfare payments have been paid to people in the past week and that means a lot to people, because they are under stress and under pressure. That is to be welcomed. I have often been a fighter here for the carers. The means test on the carer's allowance is a serious issue. You can look at the model around the medical cards and then look at the model for the carers. There is no sympathy for someone who might be €10 or €12 over and above but who is providing a fantastic caring service to their loved one at home or even their neighbour. In fairness to the medical card process, you can bring in expenses and costs and mortgages and so on that might bring someone’s income down to a very low level. But with carers, it is means-tested, on what is most likely the husband’s income and that is very unfair because while the husband’s income might be quite high, the expenses might be higher in many cases. Someone is saving the State tens of thousands of euro but is not getting any kind of respect. It is mainly women, which I do not mean in any bad sense, but women have pride in having a few quid in their pocket, the same as everybody else, after going out and doing something for someone. After saving the State money while minding someone, whether it is the neighbour or their loved one, that may be blocked to them because someone has two extra cows at home and it is taking them over the limit, even though the cows had cost them a fortune in the first place. That is just looking at farmers, where there could be some other income too but an awful lot of expenses are not taken into account that are taken into account with the medical card.

We should have a model somewhere around that. I will give credit. I have often seen people putting in a very rough and ready medical card application form but did not realise the expenses they could have put in for. When they put them in, that was understood, there was a different outcome and the person got the medical card, which was badly needed.

People are finding it difficult. I know of a situation in west Cork at present, involving a lady who is almost 80 years of age. This is not a medical card issue but we are talking about carers. The neighbours are trying to mind this lady. She cannot come home from hospital because a home care package cannot be put together. There is no home help for the woman. Imagine that. She had a home help three times a day for five days a week and three times over the weekend. The neighbours were happy with that and looked for that when they got back. She spent a little time in hospital and is going home now but, unfortunately, she has no home help. Her neighbour cannot get carers in because her income is over and above. She is caring for this woman voluntarily, which is brilliant and well done, but at this stage, sadly, she cannot do this on her own. She needs help and unfortunately that is not happening. That is just one of many situations I find.

The Rural Independent Group mentioned the USC charge in our budget proposal. As somebody said, it was probably a little too dramatic to expect the USC could be abolished. It is a source of some kind of income to the State. There is no point in saying any differently. I argued the point with the Labour Party and the Green Party on television one night about that. They were adamant that the USC was brilliant and the Government should stay on course as it is a great idea. The argument I put is that the now Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, said a number of years ago that he would abolish the USC charge. He has failed to that during his term. The USC is another tax. Many young people, including my daughters, and sometimes it is as if they think they should not pay any tax at all, ask me why they are paying all this tax. It is tax for this and tax for that. Of course, they may want to have a little bit of a good time over the weekend and are wondering why they are paying all this tax. The USC was brought in a number of years ago. There was a promise that it would be abolished. It has not been abolished but it needs to be. We plead with the Minister to look at steering us towards abolishing it at some stage or other.

The Rural Independent Group called for a welfare increase of €30 across the board. People say we are only grabbing at figures and throwing out a figure that sounds dramatic. I could accept that, and the Government granted €12, but I look at people who are senior citizens, or are on disability and invalidity payments, who are finding it an extreme struggle to survive at present. While €30 sounds a lot, it would have given them some cushion to fall back on. That has not been afforded to them at this time. I acknowledge that €12 is a help. There is no point in anybody saying any different in the House. Anybody who gets €12 extra in their pension, or even income, would welcome that but, at the same time, it does not go far enough. There are home heating oil bills, the price of coal has gone up, and if someone smokes a cigarette or pulls a pint, that has probably gone up. There are all these increases that soak away that €12 so that it probably ends up being a €4 or €5 increase. It might be said there is nothing wrong with that but, at the same time, it is not enough for people who are struggling. Quite a lot of people I know are in that situation, especially senior citizens, who have seen many hits. When they go to the shop or café, things have gone up by 9% or 13% in the hospitality sector. Again, for people who like to go out for a cup of coffee, or go to their hairdresser, everything is added on, from a 9% or 13% tax. That €12 has then gone down from €12 to €4. It is whittled away to nothing. That is why people say to me, "Sure, we didn't get a bit". I rogue some of the elderly people by saying they got €12 and cannot complain but they say, "That's nothing". Older people are more prudent with money but they see so much of the money going out of their pockets, with the high level of expenses.

I keep going on about the carbon tax and different taxes in place at present. The people of Ireland are crucified with tax. Many people felt that this budget might not have been for the working person. A lot of people feel squeezed. They are out there working every day of the week. They are the people pulling up to the petrol pump trying to throw a drop of diesel or petrol into the car. They have no choice. The expense of that is crucifying them. There is the cost of putting children through school and the cost of children's care. It is cost, cost and cost down on their backs. They feel, especially those who are self-employed, there is an absolute punishment for them if they succeed. They are calling on us to force or find some sort of change that keeps them afloat and surviving. There is a very serious worry about many of the self-employed, who are very frustrated. They feel they are absolutely being bled to death. They are expected to do everything. On the extra three days' sick leave, somebody asked me recently how the self-employed will keep getting the money for all this. People will ring in sick to use up their three days, if they get them. They will use up three months if they get that, but the self-employed are the squeezed middle. Many of them run the cafés and hairdressers, some of which now face their doors being closed. Some of that is happening in my constituency of Cork South-West. I see it first-hand. People ring me and talk to me about it. They feel stressed and are going through very difficult times.

Fuel allowance is a little like the carer's allowance. Again, there needs to be a little movement. I know the Government has raised the bands. I respect and appreciate that and thank the Minister for it but there are people who do not qualify for that allowance who have serious debts, including mortgages, childcare or whatever. It might be an elderly person. Some elderly people still have mortgages. They are putting their figures in front of me but their figures do not count when it comes to it. It is just based on income. Again, I look at the medical card model where there has been a little movement. We do not have to have huge movement. We cannot bring in everybody. People come to me who are on €1,000 a week looking for the fuel allowance. I know they will not get it and there is no point in trying. However, there are genuine people who are a little over the threshold and have genuine expenses, but there is no great amount of sympathy for them.

I will raise a couple of other matters. The bereavement grant is something the Rural Independent Group has been very vocal about for the past number of years, since the Labour Party was part of the Government that abolished it. There is sadness and cost with a funeral. Many people come to me about it. People can go to the social welfare officer to get emergency funding but people do not like to be, as they see it, using a form of begging at such a low time in their lives. The bereavement grant was a grant that helped them. It did not pay for all the expenses of the funeral but it went towards paying something and made it a goal that could be reached. It is an area that has been ignored since the grant was dropped, sadly. It should never have been dropped. I ask the Minister to look again at that model that was used down through the years and reintroduce the bereavement grant. Funerals are a huge cost to families. I know families have got to look at the expenses of funerals too to see whether they can squeeze or tighten the belt a little. I assure the Minister that can be done. I was an undertaker and saw for years how things could be done slightly differently by families. In most cases, families genuinely have a loved one who is dead and do not have the money to pay. They might have some but not all of it to pay. Some undertakers are just tremendous. They will take a part-payment and another part-payment. Surely to God, however, the bereavement grant that was there, stood for years, and was not simply handed out but was in some way monitored, could easily be reintroduced to give people a small chance to pay funeral costs.

I meet many self-employed people. I mentioned them already, but there needs to be an absolute refocus on the self-employed getting a benefit if they are ill or have a health issue. I know of somebody at present and the number of stamps that person had is being looked at. Good God almighty, that person was sick. He had a serious accident and now cannot get a payment. A relation in the country recently told me he got nothing in his years of working as a self-employed person. I cannot understand why there is not a mechanism for self-employed people with a genuine injury, the same as there is for employed people, for payment for the period such people are out injured or sick. I urge the Minister to look into that because many of them are not getting payment and it is not an easy road to travel.

If someone works all their life and falls and gets injured or hurt, they will not get a payment, like this gentleman in west Cork. He is not going to get a payment and many more I know are not going to get a payment. That is very unfortunate.

I would like to talk about the elderly. This is a very important issue. So many of them are getting reviews of their pensions and they are absolutely terrified. I am afraid for some people. I met a lady - I do not mind saying that because she will not be identified - from my constituency in Kinsale recently. I thought this woman would have a heart attack in my office. The poor woman was beside herself. What is wrong? Another lady not far away from me told me she was getting €20 for a bit of ground and the Department found out and went after her for the €20. In the name of God, this is our own people we are chasing. Phil Hogan said one time that he would chase people to the grave. That is what is happening. I would ask the Minister, as part of the social welfare, to be more careful with elderly people because they are terrified. I know another person who has serious Alzheimer's and they got the pension review. I had a job to explain it. I had to try to get contact with the family and whatever. There are umpteen of those letters all over the country and people are genuinely stressed about them. I would dearly appreciate if the Minister would look into that. Blast it all, these are the people who worked hard and built our country. We would not have an island like we have today only for them. I would appreciate if the Minister and Minister of State would look into that.

On other payments, there are a lot of people with difficulties with banks and mortgage distress. I know the Minister of State cannot take everything on board. I saw a headline from last week stating "AIB sheds most remaining crisis-era problem loans ... for €100m" . It sold off the loans of people who have a crisis mortgage or payment. There is nothing out there for these people. The article states:

AIB has managed to shift most of its remaining crisis-era problem loans, after selling a portfolio of mainly commercial property debt for about €100 million to US distress debt giant Cerberus.

It goes on to say that AIB is going to make sure the people with these distressed mortgages are going to get proper help and supports going forward. That is absolute nonsense and lies. It states: "Borrowers whose loans are sold are afforded the same regulatory protections they had before the sale." That is wrong. I met with people in west Cork recently who have a serious issue and are losing their business. The Minister of State has no idea. These guys sell it off to a credit company, the credit company writes to these people about their business being in debt and they write back through a solicitor, which is the proper channel. They get several letters and there are several letters going back and forward saying "You have never corresponded". They continue to write back at their own cost through a solicitor saying they are willing to do business and willing to sit down and start talking about it but the company will not talk. It is an astonishing situation that AIB could do that to its customers. That is what it is doing to its customers. These are people who are in distress at this time.

The cost of living is another thing. I am very concerned about parents who have young families and are trying their best to make ends meet. The budgets do not really crack it for a lot of them. They get small reliefs but they are very small. If we look at all the taxes we are putting on people at present, it is impossible and very hard. When you go into the filling station, you are paying 50% of the cost of the fuel you put in the car in tax. Then the Green Government says it does not want to have fuel in the country. They are delighted. According to them, the country would be gone wallop only for it. They want to tax the ordinary mother and father, the ordinary pensioner and the ordinary person who gets up in the morning and works hard. They want to tax them out of control completely. People cannot keep taking that hit. The Government has to give something back to the ordinary hardworking person or the self-employed person.

I also ask the Minister of State to look at the once-off payments. There are difficult situations and nobody can account for every one of these difficult situations. There was the flooding recently and I am happy that the people in Midleton at least got that compensation. Some people contacted me and said they did not get what it cost them but at least efforts were being made. I fully respect that because when we got flooded in Bantry and Skibbereen a number of years ago there was pittance paid to the people of west Cork. It was a pittance of €5,000. I begged the Government. There was water 4, 5 or 6 ft high in premises. I begged the Government at the time to look outside the Pale and not give that small derisory €5,000 with the Red Cross. I said it had to look at a bigger figure and it was not done. I know of a situation in west Cork where a lovely couple lost their home last week due to fire. They are elderly. Their insurance had lapsed by mistake and human error. At 80-something years of age, we would all have human error. I have it at 55. There is nothing out there for them but maybe a pittance of €5,000, €6,000 or something like that if it is really fought for. There are difficult situations that are not addressed in this Social Welfare Bill. I ask the Minister of State to look at some of those issues and try to see if we can put forward some slight changes. We will be putting forward amendments, all going well, and that is our entitlement.

Another issue is farm assist and fish assist. It is an area that affects a lot of people in rural Ireland. It is a lifeline for quite a lot of them. The amount of times they are investigated when getting farm assist in case they get €60 or €70 more at a mart for a cow or calf or whatever, or the amount of times fishermen's incomes are looked into, is very unfair. There needs to be a little bit of flexibility because they could have a year where they might have a little more but there are also years where they have less. That flexibility is not being afforded to those people, who keep being investigated. It is awful cumbersome for people to try to look into their finances. Some have to get the help of an accountant, which costs money.

The issues I have brought up today include the carers, the USC, the pension going up €12 but not more than that and fuel allowance. It is not the Minister of State's area but there was a promise of funding for Cancer Connect in west Cork. It has been promised three or four years in a row. It is a magical service, delivered all over Cork county and city, taking people for their cancer treatment and there is no funding available. I mentioned the home help, the fuel allowance, the foster carers, the bereavement grant and the self-employed. I hope the Minister of State will be able to make movement on those. I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach for his indulgence.

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