Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Fianna Fáil cut child benefit across the board. However, it is the current Government which cut child benefit for later children and abolished the grants for multiple births that were payable at birth, four and 12 years of age. Fianna Fáil announced the end of the smokeless zone fuel allowance top-up but it was the current Minister who implemented it, and she also cut the fuel allowance by six weeks. In budget 2012, the Minister introduced a tax on illness benefit from the first day whereas the first six weeks used to be exempt. From January 2009, under Fianna Fáil, illness benefit was limited to two years maximum for a person with 260 paid contributions and one year for someone with between 104 and 260 contributions, whereas it had been available indefinitely until then. The treatment benefit scheme was cut by Fianna Fáil in budget 2010 and again by this Government in this budget.

See this speech in context