Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 24 October 2012

Public Accounts Committee

Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances

11:50 am

Mr. Pat Burke:

To go back over the 88 allowances, there is a logic in the process. With allowances for which a prospective case for retention in the hands of new beneficiaries was not advanced, logically there is a question mark with regard to those allowances in the hands of current beneficiaries. That is the logic of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform position. There is a reality which that scale of allowances will have to have with regard to timescales and negotiations. We envisage starting the process in the very near future with a focused number of such allowances. We have not made a final call on those yet. I do not underestimate the difficulty of this but the objective is to commence the element in the near future and achieve some finality by the February deadline.