Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. Despite all the difficulties facing the Government and the Department of Social Protection, I would be failing in my duty were I not to express the opinion of my party that the severe cutbacks proposed in the Social Welfare Bill and the consequences thereof will hit the most vulnerable in society, namely, the elderly, the poor, children and young disabled people. Mothers are also disproportionately affected by the cuts. Fianna Fáil is opposed to these deeply unfair cuts and highlights the series of broken promises made by the Government. It has argued that savings in the Department should be targeted through labour activation measures, control measures and changes to rent supplement as part of a fundamental overhaul of local authority housing lists. It believes the Government has gone for the low-hanging fruit and, notwithstanding my sympathy and understanding for any Minister in the current economic climate, sufficient submissions have been made, particularly by Dr. Seán Healy, to indicate a different direction could have been taken with the budget. While the Minister, by her own account, has had an extremely difficult number of months in attempting to fight her case at the Cabinet table, I shudder to think how she will cope with taking another couple of billion euro out of the national economy this time next year.