Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

No, I cannot because it very much depends on how much doing so costs. The Deputy knows exactly what the social welfare budget is this year. He knows exactly where it is all pencilled in. There is not a resource somewhere that is not assigned to somebody. Addressing this and the options we choose will involve new money. The Deputy will have heard the Taoiseach state earlier that there is not in the overall budget new money sitting around. Whatever decision is made is one that will have to be made collectively by this House. We will have to find the money between all of us. I would like to believe we could do as the Deputy desires but I do not want to make a commitment in that regard right now until I know exactly how much it will cost.

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