Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail)

Yesterday I raised the matter of the welfare allowance cuts for the elderly that were announced by the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, on Monday. It seems the communication within Government on that was not the best and I ask the Leader again, if I may, what the Government position is on the cuts in the fuel allowance, the telephone allowance and the electricity allowance for senior citizens.

It was interesting to look back through the Dáil record at statements made by of a couple of our colleagues in the other House. In October 2010, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, now a Minister, stated:

We are living on an island off Europe where it gets cold and it is damp. The [previous] Government is a disgrace.

This is when Labour was calling for increases in the fuel allowance. She continued: "It must begin to give consideration to those for whom it is responsible, the poor and the newly poor." Deputy Costello, on that same debate where Labour brought a motion before the Dáil in October last year, called for increases in the fuel allowances.

Many Members have raised the fact that gas and electricity prices have been flagged for further increases. Although the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste committed themselves to no welfare cuts and no income tax increases, this, to me, is a welfare cut. The Government cannot call it anything else. It is a €65 million cut in one year. Those affected are the senior citizens, the older people of the State. What is going on here? What I really would like to ask the Leader is whether he can tell me, in the programme for Government between Labour and Fine Gael, what commitments they gave to the senior citizens and to the elderly?

Many commitments given already have been broken and I will not go back to them. They are a matter of record. However, it seems interesting that the Minister did not announce these cuts in the House. Effectively, she announced them to the media. What is the commitment, what is the impact of the cuts and what is the Labour Party's view on this when it seemed to be exceptionally strong on this only a few months ago where it was calling for increases in those allowances?