Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The rates of all the social welfare payments were increased by anything up to €7 last January. The amount of the fuel allowance was increased along with the number of weeks that people avail of it, yet the price of fuel has fallen since. The amount of money given for the back-to-school allowance has also been increased and the number of people who can qualify for various payments was also increased. Every effort has been made all year to protect people, including the most vulnerable. That was at a time when the country's economy was very bad.

It would be a complete disaster for us to have found ourselves turning around this month to people and indicating that we could not pay the Christmas bonus. I know it is a difficult decision to make at any time but by saying it in April, we were at least giving people some advance notice. I appreciate that it is a really difficult time and that it is a very sensitive issue for people. I hope people will not turn to moneylenders. People who are in dire circumstances can contact their local community welfare officers. The Money Advice and Budgeting Service is there to support people as they plan their budgets on the basis of their household incomes. Tough decisions are having to be made, unfortunately.

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