Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste tells me what is needed; the Government and the Department should be doing it. We are talking about working people who are paying PRSI. When they are ill, awaiting an operation or injured, they expect the insurance system into which they have paid to provide what they are entitled to, yet that is not happening as the system has collapsed. It has not been happening for weeks. I read the press release issued by the Department this morning and it was a case pf more excuses. Genuinely, the people with whom I have dealt in my office in Wexford and those who are attending colleagues' offices across the country are in dire need. The matter must be dealt with as a matter of urgency. I accept that the Tánaiste will come back to me to tell me what has happened, but I hope he will come back to me today to tell me when this matter will be resolved in order that people will not be without the benefit payments to which they are entitled.

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