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

As I said in a previous reply, we will be discussing this issue at the pre-budget forum and the Deputy is welcome to attend to give his input, as are all the political parties. We do not necessarily need a commission to take the politics out of indexing. We need an algorithm and something on which we all agree that will set the rates. It may need to be within a commission or it may not, but that has to be explored by us and the stakeholders in the next couple of months.

We have a policy of social inclusion. I am working on one and hope it will be released in the next few weeks before the summer recess. The final chapter in the development of that policy was the forum we held with all the stakeholders in the Aviva Stadium last week. I do not do stuff. The Department, long before I ever took office, has had a determined view on consultation and has the height of respect for our stakeholders, as our stakeholders have for the Department. There is no point in devising and designing a social inclusion strategy for the next five years that does not uphold the policies, wishes and aims of the people who are working on the ground. That is what we will be doing in the next few weeks.

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