David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her presence in the Chamber yesterday. It was a very long day but we had some very good discussions on many issues. At times the debate became party political but, in the round, we tried to confine our contributions to the many amendments being discussed. It was a constructive debate.

I concur with Senator Darragh O'Brien that we must remember that we are here today to vote for a Social Welfare Bill that contains cuts worth over €200 million that will impact on many people across the State.

I represent people who voted for me and my party and I have a responsibility, as a public representative, to articulate their concern to the Minister and the people in the Chamber. I represent people who vote for my party and all of the people who contacted us about various cuts and used e-mail and telephones to express their disappointment at many of the cuts.

Some Senators in the House have clapped themselves on the back for the Bill but we must remind ourselves about some of the cuts. For example, extending the waiting time for illness benefit from three to six days; cuts to maternity benefit; cuts to adoption benefit; cuts to injury benefit; the scrapping of the bereavement grant; cuts to the young jobseeker's allowance; cuts to the supplementary welfare allowance for young people; phasing out of the mortgage interest supplement and its cessation by a certain date; cuts to invalidity pension payment level for 65 year olds; and the other cuts that were announced in the budget that are not part of the social welfare Bill. Many of the cuts are unfair. Yesterday I made the point that if the Minister was in opposition she would oppose the cuts because this is not a Labour Party social welfare Bill or budget. I view it as a Fine Gael budget due to the type of cuts outlined.

I find it very difficult, and share the frustration of the Government representatives, to listen to Fianna Fáil talk about fairness.