Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I would like to make a brief final point. The benefit being received by people aged 18 and 19 will not be halved. Not one 18 or 19 year old will find next week that he or she is getting half the money. This provision will apply only to new claimants. When those who have never before received a social welfare payment make a claim, they will get €100 a week. This Bill sets out the rates of payment, rather than the exceptions to that payment.

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