In the run-up to the budget, we were constantly told it would be fair and equal and that those who can pay would do so. Yesterday, we saw where the truth lies. Low earners are left to bear the brunt of the cuts and they have the Fine Gael-Labour coalition to thank for it.

Yesterday, we were told we are near the end of the austerity budgets. Again this morning, the Minister said 85% of the heavy lifting has been done. He fails to understand that many people just cannot take any more. This is yet another budget that fails to hit the highest earners in society and targets the vulnerable in a brutal way. The Government has clearly lost sight of what people are experiencing.

Removing the €127 PRSI exemption threshold will cost every worker earning more than the minimum wage €264 per annum. A person earning €18,000 a year will pay the same PRSI increase as we Deputies, who earn €92,000. How can a Labour Party Minister justify that? Fine Gael guaranteed there would be no increases in income tax, but for low income workers PRSI is a tax on income. To say they have not increased income tax is misleading, at best.

The Minister for Finance said PRSI is good value, especially for those on the lower end of the income distribution scale and those who have shorter contribution histories. If these people's voices were heard they would say good value is when the money is in their pockets and not being taken from them with this cut.

Labour made much of wanting to increase the universal social charge for those earning more than €100,000 per year, but they lost that battle to their masters in the coalition. Nevertheless, they are happy to take away the PRSI threshold. Labour does not protect the vulnerable. It is targeting them further. How can the Minister and his Labour Party colleagues stand over the cutting of the PRSI allowance threshold? Is that what he calls a fair budget?

I agree with Deputy Pringle that no one in their right mind would want to find themselves where we are. We have to deal with the world as we find it, however, and not as we would like it. The countries we are trading with are in recession. The eurozone is back in recession. Growth expectations have not been realised. Savings have to be made. We have only one lender and we will not be able to pay carer's allowance, teachers, firemen and gardaí unless we can raise the money. Only one lender is prepared to give us the money and that lender established certain conditions with which we must comply. That is what we are seeking to do.

Deputy Pringle raised the PRSI issue but he chose to ignore that for the first time in the history of the State, the best off in society will be required to declare unearned income from whatever source for PRSI purposes. That is part of refurbishing the social insurance fund. The people who are most dependent on the social insurance fund are not those paid €100,000 or €200,000 or more, because they get the same pension as someone on €20,000; those who get most from the social insurance fund are those on modest and low incomes. The social insurance fund is in dire trouble and we must maintain that fund as an act of solidarity with those on low and modest incomes. That is what we are doing. No one earning less than €18,300 will be liable for the PRSI disallowance, and no one earning less than €10,600 is liable for the universal social charge because we took 330,000 people out of the universal social charge net last year. The social insurance fund is the one insurance policy people on modest and low incomes have in an uncertain world and in preparation for their senior years. In terms of the overall changes, they are well balanced and well judged. What is more important for people than to have that safety net if they should come to need it, as they will when they reach pension age?

Now the troika is being blamed for the PRSI increase; it was forced upon the Government. That must be what the Minister is telling the Labour Party backbenchers to make them accept this.

The Irish League of Credit Unions offered the Government €5 billion for investment but the Government would not take it. There are other lenders that could be tapped into. The social insurance fund is in deficit and in a recession it should be, while in good times it should be built up again. We have been funding the social insurance fund through the recession from Government revenue. Does the Minister think it is fair to tell people on €18,000 per year that they should lose €264 from their wages and that it is balanced by charging PRSI on those with high incomes? The Labour Party tried to have the universal social charge increased but it lost that battle with Fine Gael and now it is introducing this PRSI increase. The Labour Party should have refused unless one was done in exchange for the other. It could not even manage that. There is no fairness in this budget for the low paid and all the other items people have identified today. How can the Minister still claim that is a reasonable outcome?

We want to ensure that in future people who are unfortunate enough to temporarily lose their employment or who reach retirement age are protected as far as the State can do it. It does it quite well; it does it better than comparable states in the OECD or the European Union. It does it better than the northern state adjacent to Deputy Pringle. I am proud of that. For Deputy Pringle to sneer at the troika's injunctions simply means he does not have to contend with them.

No one is sneering.

There is no sentiment; the troika lends us money, setting conditions for that, and we comply with those conditions or it does not sign the cheque. There is no mystery to this.

What about Greece?

What about Greece? There are people hungry at the bottom of the pile in Greece.

There are hungry people here too. They cannot live on rabbit.

Tens of thousands of public servants have been disemployed.

The Minister wants to pull a rabbit of the hat.

People who are paying the USC in this country on as little as €10,000 are liable to full tax in Greece and many other impositions. If colleagues on the Opposition benches think we should go the way of Greece, this Government does not agree.

No one said that.

Deputy Pringle refuses to acknowledge decisions in the budget like slashing tax relief on pension pots for people who expect a pension of more than €60,000.

When?

He refused to acknowledge the mansion tax on homes worth more than €1 million.

Will the Minister pay that?

He ignored the 3% increase in USC for better off pensioners.

Will the Minister pay the mansion tax?

How many homes will that affect?

I will not trace along the benches there on that one because it would not be helpful.

Only Deputy Pringle is asking questions.

We have extended PRSI to all incomes and made changes to capital gains tax, capital acquisitions tax and DIRT, all of which affect the better off. In so far as the Government had it within its power, it took money from those best able to pay.

Except the respite care grant.

Everyone must contribute something.

Why did the Labour Party not impose a financial transaction tax? It is Labour Party policy.

For those who need a safety net, however, the safety net has been protected and we are proud of that.