Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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We are on Leaders' Questions. There are two minutes for the first question, three minutes for the reply and one minute for supplementaries. I call Deputy Martin.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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As chairman Keaveney tweeted last night, the die has been cast. Labour and Fine Gael Deputies have voted, one and all, for some of the most regressive cuts to child benefit, respite grants and child clothing allowances, and an increase in tax for low paid workers. This is despite the fact the Labour Party made extraordinary commitments before the last general election. It has now broken every single promise it made. To quote the Tánaiste himself on 11 February 2011, before the election date: "The Labour Party will not agree to having child benefit cut anymore and Fine Gael need to drop their plans to cut child benefit". That is the solemn promise he made to the Irish people. Labour then put posters up all over the country, "Protect child benefit, vote Labour", "Families Need Labour in Government" and "A Cut Too Far – Fine Gael – Every Little Hurts".

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy should know all about it. He did enough of it.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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They then go and take €10 per month in child benefit off the first and second child and €18 off the third and fourth child.

When pressed on breaking those promises, the Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, said the other night: "Isn’t this the kind of thing you tend to do during an election campaign?" - in other words, you tend to make these kinds of promises. This basically means Labour never had any intention of keeping these promises in the first place. They knowingly deceived the people of this country. They knowingly betrayed the people of this country. Labour's way was the ultimate deception.

Noel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael)
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That is rich from him.

A Deputy:

He has some neck.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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That really stretches the imagination.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Tánaiste might not like those words coming from me. To be fair, Senator John Whelan has perhaps put it far more succinctly, when he said he was one of the Labour candidates who put up and delivered those leaflets. He said: "We have broken that promise on child benefit, we misled the public and I have been made a liar of by the Budget cuts to child benefit."

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Thank you, Deputy.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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That is what Senator John Whelan wrote in yesterday's The Star newspaper. He continued: "The betrayal of the public's trust just adds salt to wound." He then said in a message to, I think, every Deputy in the House, particularly to his own Deputies: "We know in our hearts and souls it is wrong, morally wrong, inequitable and unfair as these budgetary measures penalise ... low-income families the worst."

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Thank you, Deputy.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I want to ask the Tánaiste one very basic question. No one forced him to make those promises and no has forced him to break them. Why is the Fine Gael promise not to increase taxes on people earning over €100,000 more important than the Labour Party promise not to cut child benefit?

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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He is right about that. It is getting harder.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Labour has a soft neck and it is being tickled by Fine Gael.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Order for the speaker.

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Is appalling.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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And everybody else as well, by the look of it.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Answer the question.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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What about the pledge in Trinity College?

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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What about child benefit?

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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They promised they would protect child benefit.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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He promised to protect the vulnerable. The Tánaiste made a lot of promises, all right.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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Come to the tea party.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Order, please.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Tánaiste did make commitments. We all remember, "It is Labour's way or Frankfurt's way".

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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We remember Fianna Fáil's way as well.

A Deputy:

Has the Deputy forgotten about himself?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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We all remember that deception. The Tánaiste voted against every measure to correct the public finances in 2009 and 2010. He spoke on budgets from this side of the House-----

James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Sit down.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----saying the Government was going to rob child benefit from people's pockets.

A Deputy:

Because he was crazy and he still is.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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He was Mr. Angry. Does he not remember Mr. Angry over there? He has now done a U-turn on every single thing he protested about.

Ciara Conway (Waterford, Labour)
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What about Mr. Forgetful?

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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We might forget about you very quickly.

Ciara Conway (Waterford, Labour)
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Who are "you"?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The point is he made promises he had no intention of keeping. That is why one of Labour's former Ministers, Deputy Shortall, has described its performance in government as "embarrassing".

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Not as embarrassing as the Deputy's.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Deputy Martin cannot lecture us.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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That is why Senator Whelan said what he said. He said the Tánaiste had made a liar out of him, and he wrote it in yesterday's The Star newspaper.

I asked the Tánaiste a very basic question which he skirted around. I repeat: why was the Fine Gael promise not to increase taxes on people earning more than €100,000 more important than the promises made by the Labour Party? The Tánaiste went out before the election, looked people in the eye and said that his party would not agree to cut child benefit. He then went into government and cynically stood over that cut.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour)
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What about Fianna Fáil's cut to the minimum wage?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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With the greatest of respect, the Tánaiste has brought politics, in terms of cynicism and public deception, to a new low.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Labour Party Members can smile and heckle all they like, but that is the reality. The Tánaiste's party put up those leaflets before the elections deliberately to mislead people, and we know why that was done. It was done because the party believed power was slipping from it and that Fine Gael would win the election. The Tánaiste made promises and commitments he simply could not keep.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Martin must conclude.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Senator John Whelan has made the point that there is no shame in doing a U-turn in regard to these cuts, particularly in the case of child benefit and PRSI.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour)
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Deputy Martin would know all about U-turns. His party has been practising them for years.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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This Government had to do a U-turn last year.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Senator Whelan warned that the ultimate shame will be on Labour Party and Fine Gael Deputies if they refuse to change tack and continue to impose unfair and regressive measures on the lowest-income people in this country. That is the reality of this budget; it is those on low and middle incomes who will suffer the most because of the choice the Government has made.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Order, please. I have called the Tánaiste.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I admire the Tánaiste's commitment to democracy.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I guarantee the Tánaiste's party will not be in government for 14 years.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Labour Party had choices. It could have chosen to increase the universal social charge for higher earners. It could have chosen not to increase PRSI for low-paid workers.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Fianna Fáil in government reduced the minimum wage.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Order, please.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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This is more deception from the Tánaiste. He is deceiving people with meaningless soundbites.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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The Tánaiste must be allowed to conclude.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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What about cuts to VEC funding?

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Order, please. I have called Deputy Mary Lou McDonald.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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There are people watching proceedings in this Chamber this morning who do not know how they will manage their week-to-week domestic budgets because of the cuts the Government is introducing. The Tánaiste has accused others of having a hard neck. I suggest that his is a hard neck of the bright, brassy variety. It is clear that "fair" is a four-letter word in the minds of Fine Gael and the Labour Party. I do not know how he can credibly say what he has said to the very people he promised to protect, including children and their parents, carers and people with long-term sickness and disability. I do not know how any Member opposite will look these people in the eye and utter the word "fair". The Government is rushing through social welfare legislation today to introduce cuts which in real terms and in real time will cause real hardship to real families, real children and real women. Here is the real clanger - these are the very sections of society to which the Government promised protection. So much for that. I do not know whether the Tánaiste deliberately set out to make liars of his Ministers, TDs and Senators and to make a liar of himself, but he has done that comprehensively. So brass iron is his own neck that he will stand up in this Chamber and waffle on about fairness. I do not know how he does it.

I suggest to Government Members, especially those in the Labour Party, that perhaps the die is not yet cast. Amendments will be brought forward today to see off the worst excesses of these cuts, particularly in respect of the respite care grant and child benefit. The latter is the matter about which the Tánaiste was so passionate and so right not so long ago. The die may not already be cast. Despite Labour Deputies' brass-necked leader, who has made liars of them, perhaps they will step up to the plate and actually defend those people to whom they made solemn promises.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I advise the Deputy that the word "lie" is not appropriate in any circumstances.

Deputies:

Withdraw it.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Leas-Cheann Comhairle should tell that to the Tánaiste.

Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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We do not need any advice from Sinn Féin.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I ask Deputy McDonald to withdraw that word.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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I will not withdraw it.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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The word "lie" is not appropriate in any circumstances.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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I cannot hear what the Chair is saying.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I am asking the Deputy to withdraw the word "liar".

Deputies:

Withdraw it.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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Members opposite are constantly diverting this conversation. I am sick of it.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I ask the Deputy to withdraw the word "liar".

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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I will not withdraw that word or any other word I have used in this Chamber today. A lie is a lie and a liar is a liar. The people at home viewing these proceedings know that full well.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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There are other words that can be used.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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"Untruth", perhaps.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Yes.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Then I shall withdraw the offensive term "lie" and instead use the word "untruth", "porky pie" or "Pinocchio". Are those words allowable?

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I call the Tánaiste.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Order, please.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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That is not true. The Government is not doing that.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Using that logic, on planet Gilmore, the Labour Party and Fine Gael, the ones with the broadest shoulders are children. Is that right? The ones with the broadest shoulders are carers who rely on a very meagre respite care grant? Is that the case?

Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Listen to what was said.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Tánaiste referred to the North. I wish he would do his homework properly when he investigates matters north of the Border.

Arthur Spring (Kerry North-West Limerick, Labour)
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That would look bad for Sinn Féin.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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In comparing the system here and the one in place in the North he is comparing apples and oranges.

Arthur Spring (Kerry North-West Limerick, Labour)
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Oranges and rotten apples.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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There are many things people pay for here that we do not pay for in the North. That is a fact.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Can we have order for the person who is speaking, please?

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Today the social welfare measures the Tánaiste promised to avoid will be rushed through the Dáil. Yet again, the Labour Party and Fine Gael will be seen as brazenly targeting children, carers and mothers and making absolutely no apology for it. They had their chance to have a change of heart. Do they know something? They would have had the full backing of the general public if they had had the courage of their convictions. I have said this to the Tánaiste before. It is not merely the case that the people cannot trust the Labour Party in government. The Labour Party cannot trust itself. It jumps at the whim of Fine Gael. Let it address itself to carers, in particular, mothers and children and explain to them why its masterplan for economic recovery relies on causing them hardship.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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That is a lie.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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They have been published.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The respite care grant has been cut.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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That is sleight of hand. Pensioners' payments are down.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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There are 20,000 fewer jobs.

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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Why does the Government not do it then?

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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The Government is worse.

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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The Government is doing a great job. Ask carers.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Fabulous.

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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That is some answer. Fair play to the Tánaiste. Who has the broadest shoulders?

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Can I have order for Deputy Shane Ross, please?

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Deputy Aodhan Ó Ríordáin should go down to Sherriff Street.

Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)
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I am interested in the Tánaiste's painting of the brave new dawn. It has been a bad week and a bad year for the finances of the country. In view of the fact that the Taoiseach stated yesterday there would be no wave of repossessions, which runs contrary to what was stated in the Financial Times and other global media and about which the Government is so sensitive, why has the decision been made to introduce legislation to allow the banks greater powers of repossession next year?

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Outrageous.

Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)
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It is because the troika has told the Government to do this. It will be open season on home owners in 2013 because that legislation will not plug a loophole, rather it will allow the banks to repossess at will.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Yes.

Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)
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State-owned banks are going to be used as agents, with the connivance of the Government, to put people out of their own homes on a scale not seen so far.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Bailiffs.

Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)
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That is what the Minister for Finance has stated. In addition - this is the reason I say it will be open season on home owners - the Government has extraordinarily decided on the issue of a property tax that it will bring in the heavies to collect the money from those who are unable to pay.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Big Phil is back, too.

Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)
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For some reason the Revenue Commissioners have been selected as the collectors of this tax, not any other body. Why is this? The reason is that people will have the property tax which they are unable to pay deducted at source. I am not talking only about the middle classes and high and middle income earners but also about people on social welfare who will be confronted with a situation where the property tax will be taken from their social welfare payment before they can even put food on the table. Will the Tánaiste tell me why the Revenue Commissioners were selected to do this? Is it because the Government knew and did not care,that people would be unable to pay?

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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The sheriff, too.

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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The banks have a veto.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Banks will have a veto.

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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Some of us were not allowed to vote on it.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Will they be collecting the septic tank tax?

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent)
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Who collects commercial rates?

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Look what happened when the Government put SUSI in charge of student grants.

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent)
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Who collects commercial rates?

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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A guillotine is also being applied in respect of that legislation.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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The four angry booksellers.

Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)
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I asked the Tánaiste two questions, neither of which he answered.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is only allowed to ask one.

Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)
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Why is legislation going to be introduced in 2013 to give the banks a free run at homeowners? Why can the Government not take the view that this legislation is unnecessary-----

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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If the Deputy keeps going this way Deputy Higgins will give him an application form to join his party.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Well done, Deputy Rabbitte.

Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)
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-----and that it would more sympathetic to homeowners if it were not introduced?

Does the Tánaiste have sympathy with the view that the Revenue Commissioners have been chosen to collect the property tax because this is the only way the money involved can be extracted from people as a result of the fact that they simply cannot afford to pay? Imagine the scene that will obtain when many people on social welfare payments or modest incomes have money deducted from those payments or their salaries. They will be obliged to make sacrifices in respect of necessities such as putting bread on the table, paying fees and heating their homes. I ask the Tánaiste to reconsider what is being done here. There are other ways of collecting this tax. Did the Government collect the household charge through the Revenue Commissioners? The reason it is not collecting the property tax in the same way it collected the household charge is that people cannot pay. The Government's attitude is that it is going to bring in the heavy gang-----

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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It is organising the-----

Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)
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-----to collect this money willy-nilly because the latter will ignore the needs of the people from whom it is going to be taken.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Deputy Ross will be out on the streets with Deputy Higgins next.

Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)
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This is not broadening the tax base.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Then what is it doing?

Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)
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It is taking money from exactly the same people-----

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Ross should not be ridiculous.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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The Tánaiste would do well-----

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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It is a pantomime over there.

A Deputy:

Would people pay to watch what is happening here?

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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The Tánaiste will have to pay next time.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Is including social welfare recipients the way to broaden it? That is a new concept.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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That is Labour's way.

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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They take a long time to get money from tax defaulters.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Deputy Ross was speaking on behalf of the Socialist Party.