There is quite an incredible display of cognitive dissonance here. The Tánaiste went to the media and told them he is going to put money back in people's pockets. He then comes in here and he is asked on behalf of disabled people who are crying out for this to put money back in their pockets via a winter emergency measure, with a one-off payment, and he just bats it away. He did not engage with it at all. These are the people that the Government made poorer, not just a little bit poorer, but a lot poorer. They are €1,400 worse off as a consequence of the budget. It cut the disability support grant, a loss of €400. It cut the living alone allowance, a cut of €200. It reduced the fuel allowance, a loss of €160. It cut the October double payment, a loss of €254. It cut the electricity credits, another loss of €250. Altogether over €1,400 has been taken from the pockets, not put into the pockets, of disabled people. Yet, the Tánaiste still thinks he can go to the public and say, "Don't worry; we're still going to put money back in people's pockets." The excuse before the budget, from the Tánaiste's predecessor as Minister for Finance, was to say we do not need cost-of-living payments because "inflation has now returned to normal rates. We now know that was a load of nonsense. He is now in Washington where he is on over €600,000 a year. I am sure he is not bothered by the cost of groceries, but ordinary people here are left with the highest inflation in two years. They are out preparing for Christmas, and they are seeing the reality of still-soaring grocery prices with over 4% food price inflation and 3.3% energy price inflation. It is going to be a cold, hard Christmas for a lot of people. The cost of 1,000 litres of home heating oil has shot up, yet in a country with a massive budget surplus, a rich country, the Government had a budget that made everyone poorer except if they were a fast food giant, a multinational corporation or a developer. In particular, t hit the poorest and most vulnerable the hardest, the bottom 10%. As a result of the withdrawal of one-off payments they had an income decrease of 4.4%. The next 10% had a loss of 3.9% and then there was the particularly cruel approach to disabled people. The Government abandoned the promise to introduce a permanent cost-of-disability payment and then withdrew the one-off payments. They are not going to take this lying down. The Government is telling them everything is great and that it has actually improved disability services. All the organisations are screaming at the Government saying they need an emergency winter cost-of-disability payment. The Irish Wheelchair Association, the Disability Federation of Ireland and Access for All, will be together next Tuesday outside the Dáil from 12.30 p.m. to 2 p.m. Please, do not continue to be Scrooge, do not continue to be the Grinch and give this little amount back into people's pockets.
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He was wrong though, was he not?
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Do you know who builds houses? Workers build houses, not developers.
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Whataboutery from the Tánaiste to avoid-----
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-----the point. Can the Tánaiste answer a yes-no question? Did his budget make almost everybody in the country poorer, "Yes" or "No"? Did his budget affect those who are poorest the worst by the budget, "Yes" or "No"? Did his budget leave disabled people substantially worse off? The answer to all of those questions is "Yes". I am interested in hearing the Tánaiste try to spin how the answer is "No". He asked what I want him to do. He has a substantial budget surplus and in that context he should not be making disabled people poorer. That was a mistake made in the budget. The Tánaiste presumably agreed to it. I am appealing to him in the days running up to Christmas to use the resources he has to reverse that decision. Do not make disabled people poorer next year. Therefore, do what they are asking of the Government and introduce an emergency, one-off winter payment. It is very simple. That is what I am asking. It is a political choice for the Tánaiste to do that or not to do that. I do not know if he is suggesting that by doing that somehow all the jobs will flee the country. Is that the type of scaremongering he is engaged in? He can make a choice not to deprive these people, many of whom are living in deprivation, and not drive them further into poverty when we are a rich country with a substantial budget surplus.
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They are not snide.
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Can we get some answers?
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