Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

There is no need for a supplementary budget at this stage. We encourage people, if necessary, to approach their community welfare officer to ensure they are getting the full benefit of schemes such as the family income supplement. Although there has been an increase in the number of people taking up family income supplement, it has not been adopted to full capacity yet. Perhaps some of the people in difficulty have not applied for it and could benefit from it. The same is true with regard to the opportunity to avail of other schemes, like rent supplement. I will meet members of the St. Vincent de Paul society this week to discuss their concerns.

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