Ms Geraldine Tallon:

If a business case is not submitted to us, we do not have an opportunity to say whether we stand over the allowance and send a message to that effect to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, which is responsible for the overview in those instances. We have written to all managers to instruct them to open discussions with staff representatives with a view to the phasing out of allowances for existing beneficiaries. There could be fireworks in Wicklow.