Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Contrary to what Senator Cullinane stated, the ESRI is an independent body which conducts independent research. One would probably find these figures somewhere on a shelf in the Department of Finance or the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform as they used to publish them and tell us their own view, but they had to stop doing so because it was so embarrassing for the Government. With all this talk of giving this and giving that, in reality the Government is taking away much more from the poorest in society. If the Minister of State wants to know why there are huge demonstrations on the streets and why the Labour Party poll ratings have come down dramatically, the graph in the ESRI report tells him all he needs to know. He does not need to go any further. He has hit the poorest hardest.

I compliment my colleagues Senators O'Brien and Mooney on tabling this recommendation. Like other speakers said, and I heard Senator Norris say it, I do not see how it can be opposed. If the Minister of State were to suggest going back a couple of years prior to 2011, I certainly would not object to it. It could be amended on Report Stage but at least it would be done. There is too much political spin about what people will gain without speaking about the losses. We have had this consistently since day one of the Government. Its mantra has always been that there has been no change to the basic social welfare rates, but everything else has been changed and there have been some dramatic cuts.

The Government has divided society and, unfortunately for him, the Minister of State will pay the price for it. Small groups of people have been hit really hard. For example, the respite care grant, which is the subject of another recommendation by Senator Cullinane, has been reduced dramatically. The previous approach was that while everybody faced a cut, those who could afford it were cut most of all. We did not divide society into little sections. The Minister of State in trouble now. He states a reduction in USC was given to low earners, but he never says the six day week for social welfare was reduced, which removed the entire benefit of the USC change. This is why no one is thanking the Government. People can see it in their pay packet every week and they know. Those who earn little enough to pay this low rate of USC are, by and large, part-time workers who would have benefited from the dole but it was cut to pay for the USC. The USC was cut but so was social welfare, all to give a bit of a spin that low earners are being helped, but this is not happening.

I am sure the Minister of State will speak about the low pay commission. There is also the National Competitiveness Council, and there is tension between the Minister and the Minister of State. We will wait and see what happens. I and my party believe in a society where everyone is brought together and we do not divide society between left and right.

We are saying we are one country, we are one people coming together and we will all muck in and do our bit in accordance with how we can do it and our means to do so. It is very important for that voice to remain at the centre of Irish politics and I think it will.

This recommendation surely is unarguable, from a Government point of view, and I hope we can do this without playing the blame game. I am more than happy to go back to 2009 because, in fact, in that last Government the decreases in social welfare during the period were a reversal of the increases given from the start of that Government. The decreases were terrible and it was awful voting for them for which I paid the electoral price, as did Senator Darragh O'Brien. We definitely tried and our Minister's guiding philosophy was to charge the high earners more and that is why there is a high rate of USC. That is why the civil servants at the top were cut most of all. That is why the USC higher rate is not likely to be reversed as a straightforward cut because higher earners would benefit because they are the ones that were targeted by it - those at the very top.

This Government's legacy in regards to keeping society together and keeping everyone mucking in together, is disgraceful. The whole thing is falling apart. The centre is not able to hold because of the policies which have led to the ESRI graph.