Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister, and the Minister, Deputy Joan Burton, have announced the discontinuance of the telephone allowance for elderly people. They also approved cuts to maternity and adoptive benefits, as announced by the Minister, Deputy Howlin, and implemented by the Minister, Deputy Burton, who obviously agreed to it before the announcement. The Ministers also cut illness benefit and jobseeker's allowance for young people, and the Minister, Deputy Burton, single-handedly ensured the discontinuance of mortgage interest supplement for new applicants in mortgage difficulty. In addition to this, and it appears without the agreement of the Minister for Health, the Minister announced a reduction of €113 million in the medical card budget which has led to a series of U-turns. I cannot begin to list how many U-turns have been done on this issue in recent weeks.

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