Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The new word is not "headline" or "primary" but "core". As I stated, when one cuts social welfare payments such as rent allowance or fuel allowance, it affects everyone in the same way. It is not as if different moneys are being withdrawn. A cut to one's rent allowance means the "core payment", as the Minister calls it, does not go as far. Given that the Minister mentioned being honest, I ask her to be honest and tell the public that if the Government continues to do what it is doing, it will actually cut people's social welfare payments.

I noted the way in which the Minister referred to "pensioners in particular". She is obviously worried about the audience who might believe she is standing up too much for people on the dole, but the reality is that the vast majority of those on social welfare were working a few years ago. They are hard-working people who would like to be working now and the Minister should not be ashamed to stand up for them. She should not say she is just talking about pensioners in the belief it might read better in the newspapers.

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