Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

I return to the points raised by Deputy Enright which were not fully addressed by the Minister. For example, the Deputy stated that the Minister for Social and Family Affairs is in a position to make allowances in respect of his Department. When this scheme was announced, people were informed about its importance and about the fact that they would receive additional money from the Government. They were never told that it would affect their grants. Is it not somewhat mean to deal with them in this way? Would the Minister not open her heart, ignore the income people earned from their SSIAs and go with the spirit of the scheme and ensure that higher education grants will not be affected? It is fine to say that people will not be affected because the limits have been increased this year. That is similar, however, to saying that if one obtains an increase in one's pension in the budget, local authorities should be allowed to claw it back in rents. This is about the spirit of the scheme and a degree of generosity.

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