Ms Orla O'Connor:

We are in a different place now, which is the crucial problem. Huge cuts have already been made. Child benefit has become a much larger part of families' incomes on foot of unemployment levels and reduced working hours.

It is not possible to say that one can consider further cuts in services. One point that resonates with me from telephone calls to the women’s council is that there is no trust in the reforms that could emerge. I concur with the Deputy that we need to find the revenue through the taxation system by looking at those earning over €100,000 and we need to see services developed. Then some years down the road we might be in a place to review the level of our universal payment. We cannot do it now, however, because child benefit is much more significant than it ever was due to the wider economic circumstances.