Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We are talking about something we cannot talk about because it is gone, but I do not have a problem coming back. Three months is not a reasonable amount of time to have let the changes we are making now elapse to see what impact they will have. Most of the amendments tabled today are about compiling reports on one thing or another, and all they would do is make work for us, whereas the work we are doing on the working family payment is something I want to work on continuously with the Oireachtas joint committee. If and when we do make changes, I would like to be able to bring them back, suggest them and talk about them, and if committee members have enhancements to make to those changes, then let us work on them together. The plan is to move what was the family income supplement into a new working family payment which gives more flexibility and picks away at the poverty traps identified by the Deputy to ensure they do not stay in situ. I am very willing to come back to the committee during various stages, whenever the committee invites me or whenever I have something new to talk about, and go through it with the members.