Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I have made the point to Deputy Kenny that total expenditure must be looked at in all aspects. Decisions will be taken by the Government in due course in terms of whether there must be a reduction in the area of child benefit expenditure, which amounts to €2.5 billion, in a way that is as fair as possible given the varying degrees of household income to which it applies. That is something that must be considered by the Government. Where there are limited resources, one must target those resources to best effect and do so in as socially just a way as possible. It is not easy given the scale of the issues before us.

What is not being made clear in respect of Deputy Kenny's position is whether the social welfare budget will make any contribution towards the adjustment that is required. I am sure plenty of people want to know the answer to that.

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