Bríd Smith condemns budget as failing pensioners, carers and children
Bríd Smith criticised the budget for failing people in poverty, arguing it leaves pensioners, carers and children worse off. She condemned cuts to carers allowance at age 66, described the €12 pension increase as inadequate compared with a €31 figure linked to wage indexation, and warned rising child poverty and service cuts are worsening outcomes.
Poverty and the budget
Bríd Smith accused the government of forgetting the reality of poverty despite using words like "inclusion". She said the community and voluntary sector looks after people in poverty and argued that many tens of thousands of people, including children and pensioners, are being left behind by the budget.
Pensioners and carers
She highlighted the carers allowance being halved when a carer turns 66 and criticised means testing that remains in place. Smith noted the government linked pension policy to a target of 34% of the national average wage that has not been met - arguing that instead of €12, pensions would need to rise to €31 to match that indexation, a shortfall of €19. She cited Nat O'Connor of Age Action Ireland saying the €12 weekly increase does not restore spending power since 2020.
Child poverty and service impacts
Smith warned that extreme child poverty has risen by 27% and that children with disabilities face a higher risk of poverty by 7%. Quoting EASI figures, she said a special means test combined with doubled benefits could cut child poverty by 25% and affect about 40,000 children. She connected childhood poverty to long-term harms - higher demand for addiction services, family intervention, youth justice and prison.
Cuts to community services and accountability
She recalled a former Minister for Finance describing post‑2008 austerity as "picking the low hanging fruit," saying that cuts to drug and addiction services, family supports and youth services were never fully restored. Smith blamed successive governments and a Department of Inclusion that does not address addiction or child poverty, accused policy of discriminating against young people on the dole and minimum wage, and said poverty is growing even as the economy expands. She condemned the budget and demanded clarity on funding for addiction, youth and family supports, warning that details still need to be seen.
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When you when you praise this budget and say we've done a great job it's quite a subjective point of view and I want to be subjective or objective on behalf of a different cohort of people than the Fine Gael TDs sitting opposite me and that is the community and voluntary sector the sector that looks after the people who live in poverty and poverty is a word you're very seldom here in this house anymore it's a word I think the government have forgotten they talk about inclusion yes inclusion is great nice word and all the rest of it but I'm talking about actual poverty and poverty is a reality for many many tens of thousands of people and particularly children it's also reality for many many tens of thousands of pensioners and I've just come off the phone to a friend of mine who used to who was the CEO of the senior citizens parliament and one of the points she made to me very strong strongly is first of all on the carers allowance because many many senior citizens are caring for family members some of them in their 30s 40s and 50s with disabilities with problems when you're a carer and you turn 66 and you get the pension your pension is cut in half your carers allowance sorry is cut in half what sort of treatment of that is a recognition of that is people who are doing a job that's absolutely needed and it's been mentioned already many times in the house about the means testing that should have been dropped and isn't but imagine you're caring for somebody for decades and then you come to get your old age pension they cut your carers allowance in half a day after you turn 66 that is absolutely outrageous and this has knocked an awful lot of um older people into poverty but I think you know the 12 euro and people are saying yeah great it's it's it's the only thing that the economics and this is what you're trying to do as you know what you're trying to do as a very intelligent person and what you're trying to do as well as as they feel very much and really trying and for us is what you're trying to do as well as possible as well. or five years ago argued, and this was the government's roadmap for social inclusion, that elderly people, people who have retired, their payment needs to be linked to 34% of the national average wage. That has never happened in one of the richest countries in the world, and yet it is the norm across Europe that your pension payments are linked to the average industrial wage. Instead of getting €12, if we had linked that index with the average industrial wage, pensioners today should be getting €31. It falls €19 short of what would do right by them. We find more and more older people are falling into poverty. We find pensioners struggling to survive. Nat O'Connor, for example, from Age Action Ireland, said, I am relieved to see that the state pension has gone up by more than a fiver, but €12 a week increase does not replace the lost spending power since 2020. The core rate of the pension would need to be increased by a further €19 on top of the 12 to have the same spending power as 2020. Imagine that, nearly five years ago they had the same spending power as then. There is no account being taken of how the cost of living increases put pressure on the poorest people. On child poverty, we know that extreme poverty among children has risen by 27 per cent. There is a higher chance by 7 per cent of children living in poverty for them to have a disability. Child poverty could be reduced, according to the EASI, by 25 per cent and would affect about 40,000 children if you had introduced a means test on top of doubling the benefits, but a special means test for child poverty. Poverty has a negative impact on those it affects. The younger they suffer it, the more it affects them. The longer you suffer it, the more it affects. It affects the outcomes at the other end. At the other end you have the need for addiction services, you have the need for family intervention supports, you have the need for justice services for young people who will end up in trouble with the law and go into prison, precisely because of the way they were born and reared in poverty. I'm going to keep saying poverty in this house because nobody on that side of the house recognises that it actually exists and it is a reality. If you go back to when your former Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, he said we are picking the low hanging fruit first after the bank collapsed in 2008 when he came into government, picking the low hanging fruit for austerity. That low hanging fruit was the drug services, the addiction services in the community, it was the family support services, it was the youth services, it was the intervention services that precisely are needed in the poorest working class and rural communities and those cuts have never been fully restored. Fine Gael have been in power since and those cuts have never ever been fully restored. When you have your Department of Inclusion that does not look after those in addiction, that does not look after children in poverty, that takes it out on young people by discriminating against them on the dole, discriminating against them on the minimum wage, then what do you expect at the other end? Only communities that are disengaged, disaffected, alienated and where there is a huge amount of problems because you are refusing and it is almost like you have contempt, you are refusing to address the exclusion and the poverty that is rampant and growing. It is actually growing. While this economy grows, the rate of poverty is growing among children, among older people and among the most vulnerable. I want to really condemn this budget, even though we still have to see the finer details and the colour of your eye when it comes to see how much you are actually going to put into supporting addiction services, supporting youth services, supporting families that are excluded from this society. We have to see the colour of your eye on that one, but I can bet you it will not be inspiring and you will continue to leave people excluded and living in poverty. That is the condemnation for this Government and until you are gone and some other Government comes in that will address that imbalance, we are going to see it continued. You have proven it, you have proven it for the last 11 years.
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