Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

I support Senator Cummins's amendment. I remind the Minister for Social and Family Affairs that this is not the first time widows have been targeted and been made beggars of. I assume the Department of Finance is responsible for the predicament faced by the Minister today. The Department has levied serious inheritance tax on widows in the past. Many widows had to dispose of their property to comply with the Department of Finance's requests at that time. Families were denied the inheritance of a property or, in many cases, a livelihood. We are targeting widows again today.

I am not sure if the Department of Finance told the Minister last summer or autumn that every Department had to bring about cuts. Did the Minister's advisors in the Department of Social and Family Affairs tell her, to that end, that double payments would have to be stopped? Approximately 2,000 widows and widowers — the most vulnerable people in society — are being targeted as a result of the decision that has been taken. Is the Minister unable to stand up and declare her independence, without being subservient to the Department of Finance? I cannot believe she is yielding to its demand for overall cuts. Somebody in the Minister's Department must have decided it is legitimate to make changes in this area in order to satisfy the Department of Finance. There can be no legitimate reason for the introduction of this cut and many others in the Bill. The cutback being addressed in this amendment targets a vulnerable group.

I doubt the sincerity of many Government Senators who say they have pity, who talk about it and who say they will look into it. Such verbiage has to be disposed of so that we can examine directly the problems faced by vulnerable people who are suffering as a result of serious cutbacks. Such people did not recognise the seriousness of the cutbacks until the day on which they received their first payments under the new system. They found then that they were affected by the implementation of the new regulations. They had not imagined that the consequences of the introduction of the system would be so serious.

It is useless to postpone a final decision or to say it will be examined in some other way. If the Government is determined and willing to recognise the hardship involved in this cutback, it is important for the Minister to indicate clearly that she will restore, by means of some other mechanism and as a matter of urgency, the income that has been lost by this very vulnerable group. For that reason, I ask her to consider seriously the amendment that has been moved by Senator Cummins this morning. The Minister should demonstrate, for once and for all, that she has listened to those who have shown their concerns in a legitimate manner by seeking to meet her. It does not happen often that a representative group wishes to meet the Minister for Social Welfare to discuss a cutback, as the National Association of Widows in Ireland has done in this instance. The Minister can walk away if she wishes.

This Bill reminds me of the infamous Disability Bill 2001. When a former Minister of State, who was responsible for disability matters at the time, met various disability groups to discuss the Bill, she dug in before she eventually had to abandon it. I think the same thing will happen in this instance. It is important that the Minister should make any announcement in the Oireachtas, rather than holding a media show outside the House. It is important that a decision that affects so many people receives the status it deserves. It should be dealt with in the Dáil or the Seanad, rather than being the subject of a press conference.