Ms Br?d O'Brien:

Equality budgeting it is a very welcome development but something we need to address is the lack of socioeconomic status as a ground in our equality legislation. It needs to be included. We need to bear in mind that €350 was the initial rate and there were reduced layers depending on people's previous income. Sometimes this has got lost in some of the discussions we have had since. It is something that is important to bear in mind.