David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)

It was a small adjustment compared with what was promised. The party also opposed previous budgets' cuts to social welfare payments.

The Minister referred to a number of items and interesting words, including "pride". She mentioned that this was a momentous achievement for her and, possibly, the Labour Party. However, I do not know of many families who will see what has happened in recent weeks as a momentous achievement. The half rate allowance has been cut in respect of the qualified child increase for those in receipt of invalidity pension and carers.

I refer to entitlement to one parent family payments. The organisation One Family have provided Members with figures such as that 65% of the country's poorest children live in one parent families and that one is four times more likely to live in consistent poverty in such a family. Those parenting alone were most affected by the previous budget. Lone parents will suffer and the financial impact will be as follows. They will have to pay an additional €6 a week towards rent and there is the loss of €120 a year in fuel allowance. If they have three or more children, they will lose €220 a year, while a family with four children will lose €432. They will lose €50 per primary school child and €55 per secondary school child as a result of cuts under the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance scheme. They will also suffer because of VAT increases, increases in fuel costs, school transport costs and cuts to school capitation grants. They will lose €29.80 per child a week because of the cut to qualified child increases.

Many lone parents participating in community employment schemes will be affected, including new applicants. Many single parents, especially women, participate in community employment schemes and receive partial payments which cover their child care costs. The payment has allowed them to participate in such schemes, but the Minister has made it more difficult for them to do so and provide for their children.

Regarding cuts to child benefit, the Minister and her party stated before the general election that there would be no cuts in child benefit. It has been cut.

The Minister talks about rates that have not been cut such as standard social welfare rates, but all of the secondary benefits that have been cut have an impact on most, if not all, those in receipt of social welfare payments. The cuts to rent supplement are an example. Many of the cuts made in the budget will have an impact across the board on many individuals.

Changes to redundancy arrangements are part of the ministerial order that will be signed by the Minister. These are bad for small employers and will make matters more difficult for them. Many companies do their best to try to give generous redundancy payments to workers and were able to recoup a figure of 60% through the rebate in respect of statutory entitlements. This meant that they were able to give four or five weeks pay per year of service. How many companies will give this redundancy payment when they will not be able to claw back 60%? There will be a difficulty for many who potentially will lose their jobs.

The cruel part is that there was nothing in the budget to get people back to work. I talked about cuts to community employment schemes which do not just apply to one parent families but also to people with disabilities and whose partial payment will be cut if they are taking part in a community employment scheme. The resource and training grants available to those participating in such schemes have been cut from €1,500 to €500. This will have a major impact on community and voluntary organisations which employ people participating in community employment schemes. Such organisations are trying to ensure people will have a start, that they can provide caretaking work, meals on wheels services or engage in work on drugs projects. They do very good work in the community, yet they will suffer as a consequence of the budget.

It is interesting that the Minister came into the Chamber with a speech in which she made reference to only one political party, Sinn Féin. That point was made in the context of child benefit. However, the record was set straight by Senator David Norris. The rates are set by Mr. David Cameron who this week opted out of the European deal. Is Sinn Féin responsible for this? No, it is not. The rates of child benefit are set at Westminster. If the Minister is so concerned, she could pick up the telephone to talk to Mr. Cameron and tell him she believes child benefit rates in the North should be higher. She could work with us to get the fiscal powers we need to be in position to set the rates. She should not waltz into this House with a prepared speech——