Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

There has been no advance on the position as announced in the budget by the Minister for Finance, namely, that this area is being examined in the context of social welfare and by the Commission on Taxation. Anyone who is sincerely committed to social justice will accept that at a time of scarce resources, the need to target benefits at those most in need is a good principle upon which to try to deal with issues that arise in this or any other area of social support. I would emphasise that there is no substance or foundation to the assertions made during the week that decisions in terms of a flat rate reduction had been taken in this area. Those stories were obviously planted by somebody else.

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