Mary Moran (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome the Minister, Deputy Burton, to the House. This year's Social Welfare and Pensions Bill brings cold comfort to many, as Members on this side suggest it could have been worse. It most certainly could have been worse and everyone realises this. The Minister, Deputy Burton, achieved a thankless feat of reducing the adjustment from €440 million to €290 million. No Member in the House can dispute that this budget is significantly different from the previous budgets the Government unfortunately has been obliged to propose. While I will stand up and applaud this, I decided these points must be made to at least put into context these measures.

Throughout the difficult three years in which the Government has been in office, the Opposition, both those who are affiliated to parties and those who are not, has stated repeatedly the Government is not protecting ordinary people, that such adjustments cannot be made and there must be money somewhere. I had hoped sincerely that at this stage in the game, they would have woken up from their delusions, particularly those in Fianna Fáil. If there was ever an Opposition party that knew the scale of the task the Government has faced and still faces, it should be Fianna Fáil, that is the party that started the austerity budgets, which is its members' buzz word. I refer to the party that cut child benefit by €16 a month in budget 2010 and by €10 in budget 2011 and which cut the carer's allowance from €220.50 to €204. It is the party that cut the blind pension from €204 to €188 and which also cut the widow's pension from €204.30 to €188 after the most devastating budgets in living memory. This point must be remembered.

Historically, Sinn Féin also appears to jump on whatever bandwagon is on the move. It believes there must be money somewhere and all of our budgetary issues could be solved by taxing the wealthy. It is unfortunate that no Sinn Féin Member is present in the Chamber. I agree on one point, namely, the wealthy in Ireland should pay their share and have no dispute on that matter. However, the Sinn Féin pre-budget 2014 proposal is as one-dimensional and as regurgitated as were its pre-budget submissions in 2013, 2012 and 2011. Members of Sinn Féin stand up in both Houses to disparage the decisions of the Government and in particular the measures included in this Bill and its counterparts, year in and year out. However, members of Sinn Féin stand up in Stormont and introduce social welfare changes that by their own admission are flawed and targeted at the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in society. The social welfare Bill that was allowed to pass by Sinn Féin in the North introduced changes and cuts that disproportionately affected women. Moreover - this sounds familiar - low-income families and lone parents were forced to access debt, discredited tests were used to judge the sick and disabled, along with further measures that threaten to take away benefits from those who refuse work and cuts to housing benefits.

While I concede the Government has made harsh decisions and compromises, it has never lost sight of the end game, namely, to regain control of our country and to make it a more sustainable place for our children. It is easy to make easy decisions. On the most cynical level, not a single member of Cabinet, the Labour Party or Fine Gael has anything to gain from cutting services and benefits from people. It is safe to state that not a single person on either side of the House entered into politics to take or to cut from people. The Minister, Deputy Burton, has had no easy task in the Department of Social Protection. I commend in particular that further cuts were not made this year in the area of disability. She has continued to expand the JobBridge scheme, has overseen the drop in live register figures, has made sure that budget 2014 provided significant money towards job activation measures and has rationalised many social welfare services with the introduction of the Intreo offices around the country, which are customer-service oriented. The Minister, Deputy Burton, also has been working tirelessly behind the scenes on the youth guarantee and has secured €14 million of funding, while the Government continues to work on funding from the European Union. I acknowledge that Members on the other side of the House will complain that not enough is being allocated to this project but I will remind those Members of the Opposition that it is not about how much money one allocates but about how one uses the money one is given.