Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I referred earlier to that last point. If we know the facts and the low, medium and highest estimates, we have a sensitivity analysis of the exposure. There is an irony with regard to this issue. The mobility allowance was introduced in 1979, when in public thinking and society in general we were becoming more conscious about giving people with disability the chance to go to work and to have an occupation. Buildings were refitted with ramps and lifts to provide for people with physical disabilities. The introduction of the mobility allowance was well motivated. Since then, a purer definition of equality has come in and it has trumped and leapfrogged over the initial moves to make society more equal with allowances. This is a stricter definition and we cannot avoid facing it. We are doing that bravely and well today.

The conundrum we face is the overall resource and budget constraint for the Government. We are trying to ensure a fairer distribution and support to people who need it - people between the ages of 16 and 66 who need to be able to go to work and have an occupation. We must address this, but that brings us to two critical issues. First of these is the current debate for bank debt-liabilities write-off and, second, the need to reconsider the need to raise national recovery resources from high incomes and corporation profits, levies and taxes. Ironically, in the past four years - since 2008 - the export drive we talk about-----