Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We have a general policy of attempting to make homes more comfortable, warmer and better insulated. Some time ago the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, announced the allocation of €50 million for that purpose.

I do not accept the Deputy's assertion that we have lost touch with reality. Very much on the contrary, we engage with people on a very regular basis about the situation in which they find themselves. It is not a situation of their making, but it is a situation that arose because of how our country was allowed to drift. We need to correct that drift and that is what we are doing.

I cannot give a direct answer to the Deputy's question about the reversal of changes in the free-fuel scheme or energy units in the household benefits package. The Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, referred to this in the energy area. The question the Deputy asked is a matter of budgetary policy and I will not answer it now. As the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, pointed out, the Government needs to be cognisant of the difficulties and hardship that many people experience. While we have a difficult job to do in presenting a budget for 2014, we intend to do that in the fairest way possible and to show in so far as can be done a degree of flexibility where it can be applied. However, I cannot answer any individual question about the budget. That is a matter for collective decision by the Cabinet over the coming weeks.

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