Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I had the privilege of following the Minister on the hustings in 2011. She was an outstanding representative and deserves her ministry. I know the Department of Social Protection is benevolent. I also had the privilege of visiting the Department and I know it runs a benevolent city but that is where I must part company with the Minister and her Department. I wish to make a few simple points on the respite care allowance.

In the first paragraph of her speech, the Minister states one of her priorities is "that those in most need of the assistance are protected....". In 2013, ¤775 million will be spent "to support carers". It is wonderful. "Protection" is a great word, but the Minister has an unique way of defining it. Who are we really protecting? We are protecting the big boys with a lot of money, the Vegas bagmen banks and the "cleaner uppers" of the Vegas bagmen banks. We gave ¤3,750 million to the Bank of Ireland. We gave ¤3,750 million to AIB. We gave ¤52,000 million to garbage known as "Anglo Irish Bank". We pay ¤140 million in salaries per year for the 1,100 people who work in NAMA and the IBRC, but we could not find ¤26 million for carers who care for the ill, the frail, family friends, the handicapped, the challenged, be they old, middle aged or young. The carers save the State ¤4 billion through their bravery.

All day yesterday Senators were making comparisons comparing Ireland with other countries. We had comparisons with Northern Ireland, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands. We are not these countries. We are living in Ireland and we should be changing the things that our own people, the Irish need to have changed. We should not be copying, good or bad with respect to Senator Quinn, what happens elsewhere. The idea of comparison is useless, whether it is positive or negative. We must do what we have to do for ourselves.

The Government must stand up for its own actions. I must stand up for mine. No Government, or Members of the Seanad, can blame somebody else for what happens to them. If they say "It is your fault that I am the way I am", I respond, "No, it is not, it is our own fault". These are useless arguments and get us nowhere. It is nobody's fault. The Minister must make the decision and the Government must take the repercussions for the limiting decision it is making on respite allowance.

Nobody, neither Senator, Minister or Government has the monopoly on the right thing to do, the hard and unpalatable thing to do, nor do they have the monopoly on the right reasons. The Government has the monopoly in this House on bad decisions. Bad choices are disguised as protection.

My final point is that the Minister told us yesterday that if the Bill were to be paused for 90 days, the loss in respect of social welfare would be ¤124 million. This money would have to be made up from her own budget. That may be true, but it is no reason for this House to falter. We are a country that spent most of our time making decisions based on fear. The Seanad is no place for this to happen again. Fear is the last place we should go when we are being asked to make a decision.

I will finish with these questions. Where is the Government's honour? That was the great question that the Greeks asked. Where is the empowerment, recognition and support promised to carers? Where are the Government strategies that promised access to respite breaks? Where are the Government's commitments to the national carers' strategy? The argument made by Government that the basic carer's allowance or the core income was not touched can be translated to carers as follows, "One can only have a moment in the sun and you need to be grateful for that." There are many people on very high allowances and salaries, which can be translated as, "You can still have every moment in the sun and live without fear of clouds and have the expectation of increases." The Minister must find ¤26 million elsewhere to sustain the carer's respite grant. Members across all parties can have our equal share in the same sun.