David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to speak to the section. Our amendments were ruled out of order but we wanted to include in this section the retention of the back to school clothing and footwear payment which has been cut. As the Minister is aware, many families are dependent on this very important allowance. It ensures that families either in poverty or barely struggling to survive have some means of support to buy school uniforms, clothes and get their children to primary and secondary school. It is wrong that we do not have an opportunity to properly scrutinise that cut which the Minister is making. It is something that will be made by her, as Minister, and not by legislators, especially people who made promises on these issues, but the payments are very important to those families. It is not just about the ¤50 cut this year; it was cut by ¤50 last year.

The Minister might clarify the comments she made to the effect that people should shop around and get value for money. I know many families who have to buy their school uniforms in certain shops because only certain shops stock their school uniforms. They do not have the luxury of shopping around and even if families do shop around, school uniforms have a certain cost, as do school books, footwear and so on. If we want to genuinely cherish free education to make sure that families are properly supported, we must ensure that the supports are in place.

This is one of the cruel cuts in this budget that will also impact on many families. It would have been better if the Minister had included this social welfare cut, and it is a social welfare cut, in this section of the Social Welfare Bill to allow us, as legislators, an opportunity to properly scrutinise it and make decisions on it. I wonder if some of these cuts were left out because they might be very difficult decisions for people to have to make by way of voting for them. That would be a cynical move if it were the case but I take the opportunity to register my personal disgust, on behalf of the many families I represent who have e-mailed me, to whom I have spoken and who have been in contact with me who are scandalised by many of the cuts in the social welfare budget but who have been very upset by this cut also because of the impact it will have on the ability of many families to be able to pay for school books, footwear and the school uniforms they need to pay for when it comes to the time for their children to return to school.