Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

That is the point I am making. I love the term used in the title of the Bill, "financial emergency measures in the public interest". This Bill is not in the interest of workers who are most in need. Why did Fianna Fáil not bring in real reform on budget day? Senator Boyle spoke last night about the political class, but why did the Government not introduce real reform of the political class in the budget? Instead, it has decided to cut the minimum wage and to penalise those who are most in need. The cuts to those on the minimum wage are of the order of 12% compared with cuts of 6% for politicians. The Taoiseach and Ministers can well afford the cut they took, but ordinary workers, the people we should be looking after, cannot afford the cuts they must face. These people are not on Grafton Street getting hairdos or buying executive gifts for Christmas. They are people we all know who are worried about how they will survive. They are trying to manage their bills and trying to balance one against the other. When they cannot manage or balance them, they are going to the credit union or to moneylenders for a loan. This is my concern.

I pointed out earlier that the Fianna Fáil-Green Party economic policy is the most serious attack on family life today. It has scared husbands, wives and children and they go to bed at night too frightened to talk about the future. Family life is being destroyed and a wedge is being driven between husbands and wives and parents and children. Parents are being forced to make choices and people are being condemned to a level of poverty they should never have reached. Fianna Fáil must forget about politics and think of people and quality of life. The issues should be quality of life and a decent standard of living. This Bill is an attack on our Constitution and on the rights of citizens. We are condemning people to poverty and that will be the Fianna Fáil legacy after 13 years in power. Fianna Fáil can point to new roads, the Luas and so on. While these are grand, they can be replaced. People's lives cannot be replaced. The quality and value of life have been degraded and denigrated by the policies pursued by Fianna Fáil in Government over the past 13 years, especially over the past two years. This was exemplified yesterday with the €40 million bonus to AIB workers. It took the Minister for Finance five days, from Thursday to Tuesday, to say that could not be allowed. Then, this morning, we discovered that people working at the higher level in the Department are being looked after. The cosy cartel continues.