Dáil debates
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
Leaders' Questions
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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These are difficult times. Significant challenges face us and difficult choices have to be made. Yesterday the Government announced that the student registration fee would increase by €250, that the pupil-teacher ratio would be increased by decimating the career guidance service and that the fuel allowance would decrease. These are some of the wrong choices made by the Government yesterday and retrograde steps.
Today, however, I will concentrate on the brutal attack on young people with disabilities. This is a social welfare cut; therefore, the spin about there being no welfare rate cuts does not wash. This is not just another broken promise - it is a direct smash and grab raid on the most vulnerable in society. Targeting income supports for young people with disabilities between the ages of 16 and 24 years is calculatingly callous and cold. There will be a €111 reduction for disabled people between the ages of 16 and 17 years, an €88 reduction for those between the ages of 18 and 21 years and a €44 reduction for those between the ages of 22 and 24 years. These are savage cuts in the incomes of young people with disabilities who, to a large extent, are excluded from many of the labour activation measures run by the Department of Social Protection.
This is happening because of the reckless promises made by the Taoiseach and his party.
Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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What about the promises Deputy Martin's party made?
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Taoiseach has concentrated the cuts disproportionately on selected groups within the welfare system and society. By any yardstick, few would have believed this decision possible, given the need of young people with disabilities for support. The programme for Government which is nine months old, states, "We will ensure that the quality of life of people with disabilities is enhanced". How can it be enhanced by these savage cuts in incomes? This is a cruel and thoughtless move. Does the Taoiseach agree that it should be reversed and should not be included in the social welfare Bill, as there is no justification for it? Does he accept that it goes against any concept of decency and that he should reverse it?
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for his questions. Last week he wanted to have reversed the proposal to increase the rate of VAT by 2% and the decision to put €25 million into the upgrading of the A5 in 2015 and 2016. The Deputy has been very good at reversing decisions. He has been clear about reversing away from commitments Fianna Fáil made.
Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Not half as good as Fine Gael has been at spinning.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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It is important to set out the facts. The budget reform being brought about here in a range of areas is certainly not easy. As the Deputy pointed out, the choices that are left to Government are unpalatable from every perspective. In this budget for 2012, the reform in question does not affect anybody between the ages of 16 and 24 years of age who is currently on disability allowance. This measure only affects new claimants. Those 15 year olds and under who are on domiciliary care allowance currently, will now continue to get that payment until they are 18. Deputy Martin will appreciate that currently, a domiciliary allowance is paid to the parents of a child with a disability until the child is 16 and the child then goes on disability allowance in his or her own right. Evidence and contact with parents shows that they would prefer that this would remain as a domiciliary allowance until the child reaches the age of 18, and that is what is happening under the reform proposed by the Minister.
When current 15 year olds for whom domiciliary allowances are being paid reach the age of 18, they will be entitled to disability allowance at the same rate as the jobseeker's allowance. That measure will bring eligibility conditions for disability allowance into line with all other primary, weekly welfare payments which are payable at the age of 18 only. This measure was introduced in the 2009 budget, but was subsequently withdrawn on the basis that the issue would be revisited in the review of the disability allowance scheme which was then under way. That review confirmed the view that payment of a full rate payment at age 16 was inappropriate and that measures should be introduced to change that.
The Deputy may have some ideas about this, but the Government and the Minister for Social Protection now have two years to put in place a structure which will recognise that persons with disability should not be sidelined in some laneway in terms of society, as if they could not make a contribution. Any of the persons with disability I meet want to be seen as mainstream people with a contribution to make, irrespective of the degree of their disability. The Government and the Minister for Social Protection now have the challenge to put in place a structure which, when those young people who are currently 15 reach the age of 18 and beyond, will provide activation measures and encourage them to play their part and make a contribution to the best of their ability. However, the situation remains the same for those who are currently 18. This reform affects new claimants, those currently under the age of 16.
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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We all knew before today that it affects new claimants, but that does not make it any less calculating, cold or callous than it is. I challenge the Taoiseach to produce any parent who will say he or she would prefer to get €111 less when their child becomes 16 than children get today. That is what the Taoiseach said. He said parents would prefer this. They would not prefer this.
Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is deliberately not listening.
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Will we ever get rid of the bureaucratic speak, such as "inappropriate", "in line with" and all that nonsense, which tries to mask the reality of what happened yesterday? Young people with disabilities need help and support, not the removal of their incomes as substantially and dramatically as the Government did yesterday. That is what happened.
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Has the Deputy a question?
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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How can the Taoiseach patronise and tell any 15 year old next year, when the person who went before him got €111 more than he will get, that this is better for him? We have all been aware of the cost of disability for quite a long time. We are all aware of what people have been saying, that young people with disabilities have far greater challenges than young people without disabilities in trying to find work and get a decent start in life..
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Can we have a question please?
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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When the Taoiseach says, "we are putting them in line with others", that is an appalling use of language which tries to mask the reality. This is wrong.
Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy has been masking the reality for a long time.
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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There are other ways to save €50 million.
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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A question, please. We are over time.
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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There is no question but that there is another way to do it.
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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May we have a question, please?
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The reason the Taoiseach did this was he had made reckless promises across the board. To try to meet them superficially, he it the most vulnerable group.
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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We are over time. Will the Deputy, please, ask a question?
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Taoiseach then tried to say that because it would apply to new claimants, existing claimants would not feel the pain; therefore, they would not lose votes on that front.
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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May I have the Deputy's question, please?
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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New claimants who have never experienced the higher rates may be hit. This is cold and calculating.
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Can I have the Deputy's supplementary question, please?
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Will the Taoiseach stop using language that attempts to mask the reality for generations of people with disabilities and those yet to be born?
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I do not know what the Deputy's supplementary question is.
Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Coming from someone who destroyed the economy, that is not very convincing.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Martin is wrong on two fronts. He has chosen deliberately to misinterpret what I said. The first thing I said was that parents had made it very clear to me that they would prefer to have their child receive domiciliary care allowance until he or she reached 18 years of age.
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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A €111 reduction.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy has deliberately misinterpreted what I said.
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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No parent is going to-----
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Sorry, Deputy. Will you, please, desist?
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Currently, if a child is 16 years old or younger and has a disability, one's parent or carer is paid €309.50 per month in domiciliary care allowance, in respect of which one is not entitled to a free travel pass. A young disabled person whose parent or carer is in receipt of domiciliary care allowance of €309.50 per month would have expected to receive disability allowance of €188 per week at the age of 16 year, prior to this measure being introduced. When it is introduced, that parent or carer will continue to receive €309.50 per month until his or her child reaches the age of 18 year.
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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A €111 reduction.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I know the Deputy understands this. Currently, when a child reaches 16 years, he or she receives disability benefit of €188 per week. Until he or she reaches 18 years, his or her parents or carer will receive €309.50 per month. From the age of 18 years onwards, the young adult will receive the payment in his or her own right. I used the words "not have them sidelined," not "in line."
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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We are four minutes over time.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Persons with a disability were sidelined for far too long.
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Will Deputies, please, stop shouting?
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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No more than those who experience mental challenges, we are bringing them into the mainstream in the delivery of health services.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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In these cases, the Government has two years to put the structure in place, whereby young people with a disability will be encouraged to be activated and enter into the workforce at whatever level suits.
On the increased cost of living for persons with a disability, the Deputy is aware of the range of facilities available under local authority schemes and a number of other schemes to help to ease the problems encountered in adjusting to their independent living conditions to make the houses in which they reside as comfortable for them as is possible.
Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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A €50 million cut.
Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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We will deal with Deputy Finian McGrath in due course.
Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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On a point of order-----
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Please, I have called Deputy Adams. When Deputy Finian McGrath is speaking during Leaders' Questions, he expects silence. He should resume his seat.
Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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On a point of order-----
James ReillyBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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What about Deputy Finian McGrath's two-Deputy salary?
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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When Deputy Finian McGrath is on his feet asking questions during Leaders' Questions, he expects silence. Will he please be silent for Deputy Adams?
Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Má sheasann a gceannairí leis na ndaoine, is féidir leo todhchaí níos fearr a bhaint amach le chéile, agus tá a fhios sin ag an Taoiseach. Muna sheasann a gceannairí leis na ndaoine agus má bhriseann siad a ngeallúintí, beidh siad ar an mbóthar mícheart. Tá a fhios sin ag an Taoiseach fosta. Tá baol ann go bhfuil beagán á rá chun dóchas a thabhairt do dhaoine. Is léir go bhfuil an Rialtas ar an mbealach mícheart. Tá mí fíor-chinnte faoi sin. Tá slí níos fearr ann. Tá an tslí atá bunaithe ar an cheart ann, agus tá a fhios sin ag an Taoiseach fosta.
When is a cut not a cut? Be sure that the cuts the Government has introduced will have a devastating effect on the most vulnerable in society. Fuel allowance will be cut by 20%. Despite pre-election promises, cuts in child benefit will cost a four-child family €432 in 2012 and €768 in 2013. Measures are being introduced to target those in part-time employment when there are almost 500,000 people on the dole.
I have a simple question. Perhaps the Taoiseach will explain why he is prepared to intervene to secure a €35,000 hike for a political crony - this pay rise is more than the average industrial wage - when he believes it acceptable to cut child benefit, disability allowance and mental health provision. How can one citizen have these incomes and services slashed while another citizen, a former Fine Gael adviser, can be given a €35,000 rise in contravention of the Government's own regulations?
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Tá a fhios ag an Teachta Adams nár bhris an Rialtas a gheallúintí, ó thaobh na príomh rátaí leasa shóisialaigh de.
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Briseadh iad.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Sin an rud a dúramar roimh an toghcháin agus tar éis an toghcháin, agus tá na geallúintí sin comhlíonta ag an Aire Coimirce Sóisialaí.
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Níl siad comhlíonta aici.
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Níor deineadh beart de réir an bhriathair.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Níl laghdú ar bith iontu. Má fhéachann an Teachta Adams orthu agus má tá sé in ann iad a léamh, feicfidh sé nach bhfuil laghdú ar bith iontu. Is fíor agus is cinnte é sin. Ní hí sin an cheist a chuir an Teachta Adams. Bíodh an Teachta cinnte faoi sin. Sin an gheallúint atá comhlíonta ag an Rialtas. Níl laghdú ar bith sna príomh-rátaí leasa shóisialaigh.
Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Ní chreidim sin, agus ní chreideann an Taoiseach féin é.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I noticed the Deputy Adams and his party have been very up front in naming people who are not here to defend themselves. Let me be clear about this.
Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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The Taoiseach has done the same.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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This Government has reduced the number and the cost of ministerial advisers by 30% since the end of 2009, from €4.7 million to €3.6 million. Some 39 of the 41 ministerial advisers in the last Government were earning salaries well above €92,000.
Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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Fianna Fáil is quiet now.
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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We are not. This is not for optics.
Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Clonmel has an Army barracks.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The person who Deputy Adams mentioned and named and who cannot defend himself in here worked for the party that I lead for eight, nine or ten years-----
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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That is fair enough.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----and had a salary well in excess of the limit that was set in these guidelines.
Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Fine Gael accepts corporate donations.
Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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Corporate donations.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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In fact, he received no pay and was in the job for five months before he received any payment.
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Taking money off the-----
Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Taoiseach threw him across the road.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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One of my jobs as Taoiseach is to sanction advisers. I do not negotiate in terms of salary scales for any adviser.
Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Look after yourselves first.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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My job is either to sanction them or not. In this case, yes, I did send an e-mail in respect of the sanction of this person. I point out to Deputy Adams that, in the guidelines under which all of these people are appointed, No. 4.7 points out that in circumstances where particular experience, technical expertise or skills are required or-----
Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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Or party loyalty.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----in exceptional circumstances, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, in agreement with the Minister for Finance, may sanction a higher salary rate. The person involved has a Masters degree in economics-----
Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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He will need it.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----and has long experience in dealing with the ways of politics. He was chosen by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation for getting people off the dole and providing opportunities for working careers.
Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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Did the Government advertise the position?
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I did my duty in respect of sanctioning that advisory position.
Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Adams did name the person.
Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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The Chief Whip is good at naming people.
Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Does Deputy Healy-Rae want to tell us how many hundreds of thousands of euro his company gets from Kerry County Council?
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I will not put up with Deputy Durkan for much longer. Enough is enough.
Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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The heckling was started by the Chief Whip. There is no respect for Opposition spokespersons from that side of the House.
Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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What about respect for life?
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Can Deputy Adams get on with his question? I am trying to deal with an impossible situation. People should have basic manners and I cannot teach them basic manners.
Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I asked the Taoiseach to explain not about the authority vested in him but why he is prepared to do this and how he can introduce these cuts. In his convoluted way he has explained when a cut is not a cut. It is not a cut when the person is a former adviser to Fine Gael and is being employed by one of the Ministers. I refer to the enormity of this sum for ordinary people. The Government will impose a household charge of €100 and cut payments to lone parents. These are choices that the Government makes and it is not fair. It is wrong and the Taoiseach knows it is wrong to give one citizen €35,000 extra and to take money from those who are most vulnerable.
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Can I have a question from Deputy Adams?
Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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My question is very simple. How can the Taoiseach make a difference between one citizen and another citizen on this, the anniversary of the treaty in this Republic? What value citizenship, what value equality and what value dealing with people with fairness?
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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If Deputy Adams wants to have a discussion about 6 December 1921, I will have a discussion with him and on many of the years in between.
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Taoiseach should get with it today.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Adams comes in here and starts off in Irish, German and Spanish or whatever language he wants to speak and that is perfectly fine by me.
Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I was mandated to come in here.
Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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He is not charging the taxpayer to learn it.
Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Tosach maith, leath na hoibre.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Then Deputy Adams makes the charge that it is wrong and unfair. One of my responsibilities as Taoiseach is to give sanction to advisers. In this case, a person Deputy Adams named and his party named, who is not here to defend himself, was well in excess of these guidelines when he worked for the party I lead. He was chosen as an advisor by the Minister for Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation because of his expertise and his ability. I sanctioned that.
The next time Deputy Adams stands up, he might be fair and might indicate that something is wrong. In the two-year period to the end of March, the Sinn Féin MPs claimed £969,328 in staff payments and Deputy Gerry Adams, before his election to the Dáil, claimed £106,880 for his staff in a Parliament he never attended.
Anthony Lawlor (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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He will take the Queen's shilling.
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I call Deputy Higgins.
Patrick O'Donovan
Noel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Mattie McGrath should not fall into the septic tank.
Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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I am sure all those people out there today suffering and looking forward to the savage cuts will be very impressed looking in here this afternoon.
Does the Taoiseach accept that at the heart of the political establishment in this State, there is a monumental hypocrisy? When the same cuts in child benefit and in other areas that were delivered and promised yesterday were delivered last year by Fianna Fáil, they were greeted with shrieks of opposition from the main Fine Gael and Labour Party spokesmen, shrieks that would put a swarm of vuvuzelas to silence and yet they are the very people recommending them this year.
I watched the Taoiseach's so called state of the nation address and read it again and again.
Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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That is great, good man.
Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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I wondered what it was all for when he repeated merely the platitudes of nine months ago. When he said the Government would do all it can to protect the most vulnerable, our children, the sick and the elderly, can I ask him to agree he is guilty of the most monumental hypocrisy since yesterday the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform attacked the children, the sick and the elderly in many forms? I ask him to acknowledge that he did not make the difficult choices, as he claimed, but continued to obey the diktats of the sharks in the financial markets, orchestrated by Merkel and Sarkozy, that working and poor people must pay for the financial crisis of the European banking system.
Is the Taoiseach aware that there are substantial assets and wealth held by the very richest in this society that are absolutely untouched by this Government? Does he know the Central Statistics Office in a survey totalled the net financial and other assets for 2010 in this State at €468 billion after liabilities and debt, and that Credit Suisse, the multinational financial services company, estimated the wealthiest 5% in this State owned 46% of those assets, giving them €219 billion net of loans? When a 5% tax on that would yield €10 billion, why does the Taoiseach not look in that direction and take from those who would not even feel it rather than feeling free to hit the disabled, the children, the sick and the elderly?
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I am glad the Deputy read my state of the nation address three times - repetitio mater studiorum est as they used to say.
Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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And now the nation is a state.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The position is that the Deputy forgot to mention the fact that I did say in that state of the nation address that I would like to be able to tell everybody that they were going to be unaffected by the budget but I could not do that. At least someone had the honesty to stand up and tell it as it was.
Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Taoiseach could not do that in February.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Higgins does not have proprietary rights on access to people who are suffering in this country. We meet this every day of the week and, as I said earlier, choices are always unpalatable.
Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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The Taoiseach should listen to them when he meets them.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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It would be very easy to do a budget eight or ten years ago when the question was how much money was wanted and how much could be spent before the end of the year. It is a hell of a different prospect when we have to make choices to get the country back on track and no one is going to do it but ourselves. The question of the European issue is one we will be discussing later on.
I make a point about the assets the Deputy says of wealthy people that are untouched. Yesterday we had the announcement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in respect of current spending. After we conclude this business, the Minister for Finance will bring in his taxation measures and I advise the Deputy to wait for that. I make the point, however, that he might refer his analysis from Credit Suisse and whoever else to the Economic Fiscal Council here, which is completely independent, for its observations on those statistics. Deputy Higgins should remember that we are at the start of a four year programme to remove the country from the bailout, to close the enormous hole in the public finances and to provide an opportunity for us to change the structures of government in order that the people can have an opportunity to have a job, a career, an opportunity to move on in their lives and contribute to their country and the economy. That is what this is about. If the Deputy thinks we can just sail on regardless of the position in which we find ourselves, he is obviously not reading enough speeches.
Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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I never said we should carry on regardless. In fact, I asked for a major change of policy. The Taoiseach will not bring the country out of the depths into which it has been plunged by this crazed system in four years. Austerity will make matters far worse. Surely he should have learned this from the plight and suffering of the Greek people. He did not answer the question. Why does he leave untouched, for example, the €219 billion of net assets and wealth held by the top 5% - the very wealthiest - in the State? Why does he not look there? Why does he not look at the top 5% of income earners, the wealthiest of whom would have take-home pay of more than €400,000 each a year? The Government attacks young disabled people-----
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Does the Deputy have a question?
Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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-----and parents with three and four children. It attacks the weakest in society because it has made a political choice that the wealthy who back Fine Gael will not be touched.
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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A question, please.
Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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Instead it takes the easy option of attacking the poor and working people. Does the Taoiseach agree that is to the shame of the Government and the Labour Party? Does he agree that critically the investment needed-----
Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Thank you, Deputy.
Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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-----to create the jobs which he said was the priority in his address will not come from current circumstances? The extra wealth in society needs to be used to create tens of thousands of jobs and remake this broken society.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I have often said it is not possible to bring a country to a point where it can have economic prosperity by austerity alone. The Deputy knows as well as everybody else that the problem of the country being €16 billion out of line will not be rectified or fixed by somebody else, it must be done by ourselves alone. That means striking a balance between current spending cuts, taxation measures and the injection of an impetus into the economy to create jobs, which represents the key to solving the problem.
The Government has indicated that there will be no increases in income tax and we will honour that commitment. The Deputy does not seem to realise that while the top 5% pay 50% of income tax, if the Government continued to increase income tax at the higher levels, we would drive away the people who create jobs, invest in the country and put people to work.
Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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They are not putting people to work.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I advise the Deputy to wait until he hears-----
Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Where is the evidence that they are putting people to work?
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----the statement of the Minister for Finance on taxation measures and how the Government has decided to create an impetus in the area of employment for small and medium-sized firms which will take people off the live register and put them into the world of work. On the live register figures recently produced, the Minister for Social Protection has pointed out that up to October 125,000 people had been moved off the register.
John HalliganEnda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Unfortunately, they were replaced by others. The point is that this shows there is a great deal of activity in the labour market. When the Government focuses on changing the structures-----
Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Taoiseach is deluded.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----and cutting out waste in governance, we can develop the indigenous economy by restoring confidence.
Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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What is the Taoiseach talking about?
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy should remember we have had a bailout-----
Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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Yes, the Government is bailing out European speculators.
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----and that we are not the masters of our own destiny as we would like to be. Until we get to the point where we are in control of our economic sovereignty and independence, we cannot do all the things we would like to do, but we are making preparations and are at the start of a four year strategy and programme.