Social Welfare Bill passed by Dáil

The Social Welfare Bill, which will cut the dole, child benefit and other payments, has passed all stages in the Dáil this evening.

Independents Jackie Healy Rae, Michael Lowry and Joe Behan all sided with the Government in the 80 to 75 vote.

Labour’s Roisin Shorthall claimed Mr Healy-Rae voted “for the sake of some kind of grubby deal” he did to maintain his political dynasty in Kerry South.

“He’s just ignored the concerns of all of those people,” she added.

Meanwhile, the Government was accused of making the rich even richer as payments to the unemployed, disabled, blind, carers and widowed are cut and child benefit were slashed.

Fine Gael revealed what is calls a "major hole" in the Budget, that will see some higher-paid individual actually enjoy an increase in take-home pay, while low- and middle-income families will lose thousands of euro.

Fine Gael Finance Spokesman Michael Noonan launched a scathing attack on Fianna Fáil, whom he claimed were looking after their friends again.

Mr Noonan maintained that high-paid barristers and professionals will be better off with the new Universal Social Charge, while a mother on the minimum wage with three children will lose €2,600.

“On a day when payments to the blind, the disabled, to widows and carers and to the unemployed are being reduced, it is absolutely disgraceful that the very wealthy will gain thousands of euros from this Budget,” he said.

Anti-poverty campaigners and children’s rights organisations have also denounced the Government’s harsh €6bn Budget as an attack on the poor, middle-income earners and the vulnerable.

More than 425,000 people are now on benefits, with emigration blamed for recent decreases in numbers signing on the dole.

Official figures today showed the number of jobless languishing in long-term unemployment doubled over the last year.