Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

The second point very much concerns the argument about family income supplement which is targeted at people on low incomes. It is to support people on low incomes to get them out of the poverty trap, in other words, the payment is only for parents who are working, not for those on social welfare. It is targeted at getting people back to work in order that there is an incentive to come out of the system. It is also clear that there are many who are entirely dependent on the social welfare system who could find work and should be encouraged to go back to work. That is one of the main programmes we are trying to manage across Departments to engage directly with the people concerned.

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