Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

I support the deletion of the section. This is one of the two most awful sections in the legislation, the other being the section that attacks those under 25. This section represents an attack on child benefit. I do not understand what young people and, in particular, children did to the Government to deserve the punishment that was meted out to them in last Wednesday's budget. This proposal is draconian and I hope the Government parties will be remembered for it for a long time to come. Government speakers have referred to their proud record on social welfare but that is similar to a defendant who has been found guilty pleading with the judge by using character references and saying he behaved himself in the past. It does not matter. He committed the crime and he should be punished for that. I hope that day will come and the people will have their say in passing judgment on the measures introduced by the Government.

With regard to the attack on child benefit, the Minister is technically correct that she has protected the children of social welfare recipients but instead of cutting payments by €8 a week for those who are unemployed and who have children, she has reduced the payment by €5 a week. The payment to an unemployed mother with a child will reduce and that will affect the child. The Minister has dressed this up by saying the child benefit is protected for such households but their payment will reduce as a result of the budget.

Child benefit is in place to compensate for the failure of the current and previous Governments to deliver supports for children. The State does not provide supports available in many European countries or, for example, in Northern Ireland where preschool and crèche facilities are publicly funded and available. Reference is frequently made to families being crippled by high mortgages but many other families are crippled by having to pay high crèche and child care fees. I pay more in crèche fees than in mortgage repayments every month. Such fees are like a second mortgage for many people. That has happened because of the failure of the Government to deliver child care supports in the children's early years and to provide State subvention to support children. There were two ways to help families deal with those costs - child benefit and the early child care supplement. The supplement was withdrawn in a previous budget in another attack on children and the only other support to help parents to meet the costs of child care is child benefit, which is being reduced significantly.

I understand the Minister will not listen to us but we still have to make the call on behalf of our constituents. This benefit is paid in respect of 40,800 children in County Donegal. Two Donegal Senators will be forced to vote on this issue later and they most likely will vote to take €16 a month off the majority of those children. It is appalling and if these measures are carried in divisions later, it will be our job in the Opposition not only to fight the Government on the legislation but to ensure members of the public are aware of the decisions their local Government representatives have taken in the Seanad coming up to Christmas In our pre-budget submission, we presented proposals that could have delivered the savings and closed the Exchequer deficit.

I have been asked by my constituents why the Government has decided to protect the wealthy and attack the most vulnerable, including social welfare recipients. I could not understand this for a while because I fundamentally believe every Member in both Houses, no matter which party he or she represents, wants to do the best for his or her community. We all have different views, ideals, visions and ways regarding how we reach the end point but nobody sits in their office deciding how he or she can punish a section of society in a budget or legislation. We are in the Oireachtas to do our best. We can oppose each other and fundamentally disagree with each other, as we do on this legislation. I have tried to come to terms with why this is happening. If Government members want to do their best, why have they decided to punish those dependent on small amounts? The only fair conclusion I could draw is that the Government is completely out of touch.

The Government has decided to protect high earners because its members are high earners. The problem is Ministers are paid too much. The Minister and the Taoiseach will never understand what parents have to face and endure coming up to Christmas as a result of the measures they have introduced in the past three budgets, including withdrawing the Christmas bonus, and they will never understand the fear of parents about the measures in this legislation, which parents do not know how they will cope after Christmas. The Minister will never understand that earning €200,000 per year with a Mercedes parked at her backside and a driver escorting her to X, Y and Z-----