We should be able to debate the country's finances without being accused of xenophobia, writes Enda Kenny.
Fine Gael is xenophobic, apparently. At least that's what this paper's editorial claimed on Wednesday. What outrage did the party, commonly recognised as the most pro-European and pro-integration in the State, commit to draw down this editorial ire?
There were, it seems, two causes of offence. Firstly, Fine Gael exposed the Government's failure to fully cost elements of its child benefit and childcare packages in the Budget. Secondly, we showed how a scheme announced as targeting high childcare costs in Ireland, will now be used to cover childcare costs in other EU countries. Of course, the Government's failure to budget properly is neither new nor controversial, given its appalling record on issues such as medical cards, PPARS and decentralisation.
As this paper reported correctly on Tuesday, Fine Gael suggested the cost of the Government's child benefit and childcare changes could be underestimated by up to €150 million. This was based on the sensible calculation that if three in every 10 of the 166,000 migrant workers based here have at least one child under the age of six, the number of potential claims could hit 50,000. Now, 50,000 claims for the annual €1,000 early childcare supplement plus 50,000 claims for child benefit of about €2,000 per annum brings the total combined to €150 million. To take Ireland for example, there are just under three children under the age of six for every 100 adults between the ages of 20 and 40.
On Monday night, a journalist with the Polish newspaper Polska Gazeta, estimated that a quarter of the 100,000 Polish people based here have children back in Poland. He also indicated that he, and presumably they, had been unaware that these benefits could be claimed.
The Government does its sums in a different way. It argues that very few migrant workers are currently claiming child benefit and the situation will remain that way for the foreseeable future.
The Government's philosophy? What they don't know, won't cost us. The Taoiseach even told the Dáil "I do not want to highlight this on the basis of an ad." Now, just because only a small number aware of their entitlements have come forward to date, does not mean that many more will not come forward in the future, rightly so, to claim their benefits.
Non-national workers here are welcome, they make a huge positive contribution to our economy and they are entitled to claim child benefit. But, it seems, you cannot raise a proper matter, of proper financial planning, if this relates to non-nationals, without being accused of xenophobia. This is ludicrous. It's a sad day for Irish politics if one cannot ask a legitimate question about the Government's ability to plan the country's finances and manage budgets, because the issue involved affects people from other countries who are living in Ireland.
The second problem we dared to highlight is that the early childcare supplement was specifically introduced to address high childcare costs in Ireland, as stated explicitly in the Minister's Budget speech. This week, RTÉ News revealed that non-resident children under six, with a parent working here, could qualify for this supplement, even though they themselves were being cared for outside Ireland. The fact that this childcare allowance would now be payable to children who are not living here was a surprise to nearly every person in Leinster House and, I suspect, in every house in Ireland.
Let's think, for a moment, about other State-supported initiatives, such as mortgage interest relief or nursing-home subventions, aimed at tackling high costs in Ireland. Does Ireland give a German worker here mortgage-interest relief when she buys a house in Berlin? No. Does Ireland give a Danish worker here a nursing-home subvention for her mother or father being cared for in Copenhagen? No. So, then, is it not fair to ask why their Swedish counterpart here should get the special Childcare Supplement for their children being cared for in Stockholm?
The Government has the option of limiting this payment to children of every nationality being cared for here in Ireland. Maybe that's what the Taoiseach meant when he told the Dáil: "I do not mind abiding by our obligations in very small numbers." Mind you, his Minister of State, Brian Lenihan, has said that "were this to become a problem over time then clearly you would have to review it". Really?
For exposing two serious anomalies in how the Government is managing the county's finances, the most pro-European, pro-integration party in the State is called xenophobic. In a modern democracy, it should be an easy matter to say - as we did - pay child benefit to everyone entitled to it. Just make sure to include it in the national budget.
It should be equally easy to say - as we did - that we and others understood that a childcare allowance to help with childcare costs of people of all nationalities in Ireland would only apply to all those children looked after here. And finally, it should be easier to have a debate on aspects of the country's finances even those that affect people from other countries who have made Ireland their home - without ludicrous accusations of xenophobia.
It should be easier. Much easier. But as this paper's editorial makes clear, it isn't. And that is the pity.
Enda Kenny is leader of Fine Gael