Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Fifty years ago, when I started off in politics, the community welfare system was very harsh but it is much more client- and family-focused now. In particular, I find that with exceptional needs payments and issues such as that, the system has become far more supportive of people and less judgmental, which is all good and is what we need in our system.