Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A nugget emerges in the Taoiseach's answer. The words "we simply cannot afford" are the core of the issue. The knowledge that the schemes were illegal has been around for 13 years. The simple thing is to change the scheme to make it legal. Instead, the Government scraps it. Already this morning, I have had calls from our Drogheda office to say that citizens who are liable to be on these schemes are alarmed because there was no notice. It is a sign of dysfunctionality that on what might otherwise have been a good news day for the Government we end up with a controversy. The Government is ham-fisted in dealing with these matters. In response to a question to Deputy Mary Lou McDonald last October, the Tánaiste said it was not the Government's wish to withdraw the mobility allowance from those in receipt of it. Now the Government has done exactly what the Tánaiste said it did not wish to do.

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