This morning I received a letter from 66 pensioners in Carnew, County Wicklow.

The Deputy probably got it from Deputy Micheál Martin.

They were writing to express their outrage at the scrapping of the telephone rental allowance, as a result of which many are being forced to cancel their land lines. Not only will this cut them off from friends and family but it will also cut them off from their community-based alarm system.

Benny Conaghan said: "They shouldn't have taken it from us in the first place because it means so much to us with no family. We rely on it for emergency response". Lil Kilbride said: "I am very annoyed over the telephone cuts. I only have a certain amount to live on. I have had a stroke, making it hard to use a mobile phone". Pat Sheppard said: "I am upset and angry. The pension is small enough to live on. It annoys me immensely to hear them say they haven't touched the pension but there are so many other things like the prescription charges and the increase in fuel".

The Leader's allowance.

Quiet, please.

Unfortunately, the full impact of the budget on Mr. Sheppard or the other pensioners is unknown. During Leaders' Questions on an occasion before the budget was introduced I asked the Tánaiste to inform the Dáil how the burden of the budget would be distributed across society. He refused to do so. Now we know. This morning, one week after the Finance Bill was voted through the House, the ESRI has presented that analysis. Here is what happened in budget 2014-----

We do not have time now for the whole budget.

The poorest 10% of people in the country are being asked to give up the most. The next poorest 10% in the country are being asked to give up the next amount. A study of 80% of the population will show a correlation between poverty and how much budget 2014 takes from the poorest.

We all know the budget has to be closed but it does not have to be closed in this way. I bet the Tánaiste could not find a single Fine Gael or Labour Party Deputy willing to go on television to defend the budget and explain why it is right and proper that the poorest people in this country are being asked to give up the most in this budget.

A question, please, Deputy.

What about the Deputy's own top-up?

That is exactly what this budget does and what this Government has done through the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill and the Finance Bill.

Some €50,000 a year, tax-free.

The Government is getting €1 million.

We vouch for it.

Stay quiet, please.

When the Tánaiste ordered Labour Party Deputies to vote through the Finance Bill last week, did he know that he was asking them to vote for something that would take the most amount from the poorest people in this country?

Keep the good seats vacant.

Please stay quiet on the backbenches. This is between the Tánaiste and the questioner. We do not need your help either, Deputy Finian McGrath. I appreciate your assistance. I must put you on the Acting Chairman panel, if you are interested.

Bertie Ahern-----

They are provoking me.

I suggest you suck a sweet or something, Deputy.

The ESRI published two reports yesterday although Deputy Donnelly referred to only one of them. Every year it publishes a report on what it terms the distributional impact of the budget measures, based on what it calls the Switch model. The ESRI also published a second report which studied the impact of social transfers on people at risk of poverty.

In the report on the distributional analysis the ESRI acknowledges that it is having difficulties with the Switch model. I acknowledge it is making some progress in expanding the coverage of that model. However, the ESRI accepts in the report that it is still experiencing difficulties in incorporating all of the budget measures within the model, particularly in assessing the impact on higher incomes. The ESRI has acknowledged that the model exaggerates the scale of the actual losses in the budget as it assumes more income is taxed and welfare payments fall behind average incomes. No one doubts, however, that all recent budgets have had a serious impact on the incomes of people in all parts of the country. Despite those difficulties we have managed to maintain core social welfare rates. There have been no cuts in the old age pension and we have not increased taxes-----

Jobseeker's and respite care.

-----on working people. We managed to take 330,000 people out of the universal social charge. We reversed the cut in the minimum wage and in this year's budget we are providing free GP care to children aged under six years.

The second ESRI report looked at the impact of social transfers in reducing the risk of poverty and the findings are unambiguous. Social transfers, including pensions, have reduced the at-risk-of-poverty rate by 71%. In other words, seven out of every ten people in society would be regarded as being at increased risk of poverty without the redistribution provided for by the social protection system. The report shows that Ireland is in the top section of 15 EU member states for the effectiveness of social transfers in reducing poverty and that the welfare system is playing a pivotal role in alleviating poverty in Ireland.

No one is attempting to argue that the budget measures can be sugar-coated. The main issue is that we have now reached a point where we know that the Government's approach is working. Jobs are being created again and this creation of employment and the growth in the economy will generate the revenues to enable us ensure that people can have hope of a better future and allow us to consider making improvements.

The Tánaiste says it is working. Who is it working for? It is not working for the poorest people in the country. What he is espousing is old-fashioned Thatcherite-Reagan economics which says, "Take care of the rich and the benefits will trickle down".

Settle down, please.

You sit comfortably with Thatcher on this.

Resume your seat, Deputy. You are wasting your time shouting. Nobody can hear because there are so many people shouting. Please allow Deputy Donnelly to put his question because he has one minute in which to put it. I appreciate Deputy Finian McGrath's help but I do not need it.

It seems we have hit on a sensitive issue because the analysis is unambiguous. Of course there are always errors in analysis but the ESRI analysis is the best we have. I discussed it with them this morning on the telephone. It is a solid analysis which states unambiguously that this Government in budget 2014 is asking the poorest people in the country to take the greatest share of the correction. That is a fact and it is a disgrace.

A question, please, Deputy.

It is bad social policy and bad economic policy. It leads to a rise in inequality and inequality is bad for everybody. The Tánaiste, of all people, knows that but it is what he is doing. Why is this happening?

Why are Labour Deputies voting through a budget that hits the poorest hardest? I believe part of the reason is that none of us knows what we are voting for because we do not have the analysis when we vote. Maybe I am being naive but I believe that if the Deputies in the Tánaiste's party, for whom I have great respect, had the analysis before the vote we will have today, they would have demanded changes to the measures for which they have to vote. That is why the analysis is so important.

Thank you, Deputy.

I am missing my child's Christmas play to be here to ask the Tánaiste this question so I ask him to do me a favour-----

-----and answer the question.

I will get the Deputy back to his Christmas party quicker if he sits down.

My question to the Tánaiste is simple. Last week, when he instructed the Labour-----

Sorry, Deputy. You do not understand there is a time limit. Will you listen to me?

Last week, when the Tánaiste instructed his party to vote through the Finance Bill-----

You are way over time.

-----did he know that the Bill would take the most from the poorest in the country? That is the question.

A poor performance.

I am sorry the Deputy is missing his child's Christmas play but can I predict what the Deputy will not miss? I think he will not miss the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party away day in 2015 before the general election because I predict that-----

What about the Christmas bonus?

-----that is where he is heading.

Answer the question.

I predict that Deputy Donnelly will be wearing the Fianna Fáil jersey at the next general election and between now and then-----

Hear, hear.

The Tánaiste should not believe everything he reads in the papers.

-----he will do Fianna Fáil's work for them by coming in here and saying, "I am an Independent and I am quoting a very worthwhile independent document in order to criticise the Government".

Is questioning the Tánaiste not my job?

How many parties was the Tánaiste in? How many parties did he change from? Was it five or six?

I have the answer for Deputy Donnelly. The party that I believe he will be a candidate for in the next general election cut social welfare rates, cut the minimum wage-----

-----and put low paid people into the universal social charge. This is the Government that has taken low paid people out of the universal social charge, reversed the cut in the minimum wage, reinstated the joint labour committees and protected people on core social welfare rates.

The Tánaiste did not answer the question.

Answer the question. It is a disgrace.

What is the point in having Leaders' Questions if the Tánaiste will not answer the questions?

This is not "Ballymagash". We are in the Houses of Parliament.

A Cheann Comhairle, is there any chance you could restrain the Government Whip? He is always insulting and taunting people.

The sooner you get your holidays, the better. I think you all need a break.