Dáil set to hear second welfare debate

THE bitter row over deep cuts in welfare benefits is set to re-ignite as the opposition is to force a new Dáil showdown on the issue.

Fine Gael said the Government could not get away with “railroading” the budget measures through the Oireachtas.

Controversy was sparked as the across-the-board 4.1% reductions in allowances were fast-tracked through the Dáil before TDs returned to their constituencies at the weekend.

Fine Gael shadow cabinet member Denis Naughten said the cuts for the disabled, carers and widows were unacceptable and amounted to 6% when the cancellation of the Christmas bonus was included.

“The best way to address the spiralling social welfare bill is not to take money off the vulnerable, but to get people back to work. The Government’s failure to stem the rising tide of unemployment and set up a jobs strategy is penalising the most vulnerable.

“Brian Lenihan’s defeatist attitude to unemployment, and his admission that 75,000 more people will join the dole queues in 2010, has led directly to the situation where he is cutting payments to carers, people with disabilities, and the blind by 6%,” he said.

Fine Gael will use its parliamentary time to force a second vote – the Government won the post-budget showdown 81-75 after deals with independents and whip-less Fianna Fáilers.

Mr Lenihan strongly defended the reductions, saying that deflation coupled with large increases in recent years would cushion claimants from the impact.

The issue caused heated Dáil scenes as Green TD Paul Gogarty shouted “Fuck you” at a Labour deputy who accused the Government of abandoning the poor.

Mr Naughten described the cuts as “cruel” and insisted there were other ways of achieving savings.

“What is hugely frustrating about these cuts is that there are many other ways within the Department of Social Welfare to save the €108 million required to protect vulnerable claimants. Had the Government implemented Fine Gael’s budget proposals it would have created 50,000 jobs next year and saved the taxpayer an additional €600m-plus which the Government has set aside to pay additional unemployment claims in 2010.”