Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

The live register always drops significantly at this time of the year. One of the main reasons for this is the back-to-education allowance the previous Government extended in recent years. I asked a specific question on the pension levy. Slightly more than half the money raised through the levy will be spent on job creation measures. If the Tánaiste checks the expenditure of the Department of Social Protection, he will see it had recorded an underspend of €10 million on its employment measures at the end of August. I do not yet have the detailed figures for the end of September. The money is being collected, but it is not being spent on job creation measures. Will the Government refund the pensioners the money taken from them under false pretences?

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