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

I will clarify again what I said last night and what I said at the committee last week. First, it is not a Government report. It is a Department paper with resolutions to fix the anomaly. That will be going to the next Cabinet sub-committee for discussion with the other people on that economics committee. If it is agreed there, which I have no doubt it will be, it will then go to the Cabinet. The timeline is that it will go to the next Cabinet sub-committee and if that takes place before Christmas it will be then and if it does not happen before Christmas it will be straight afterwards. As soon as that Cabinet sub-committee meeting has been held, I will bring it to the very next Cabinet meeting. I cannot put a timeline on that because I do not control the Cabinet sub-committees, except to say they happen exceptionally regularly. The Cabinet happens every week and the Cabinet sub-committee meetings are held at least once per month. Without having to put down an amendment, I could probably commit to it definitely going to the next Cabinet sub-committee meeting and once it has been discussed there, it will go to Cabinet. I must put in a caveat that to reaffirm what I have said all along, in order to not give false hope that we are discussing a resolution to the issue in this Bill - we are not. To fix this issue is going to cost new money that does not exist in this Bill. The resolution will come from the Cabinet sub-committee and the Cabinet decision but it will have to be with regard to new money.