Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy very much. This is one of the cruellest cuts ever made to disability services. It relates to an allowance of €31.80 a week but it is not just a monetary cut. This allowance provides great encouragement to people to start courses. Not getting the €31.80 can actually stop people doing such courses. I cannot understand why the Minister of State would go ahead with these cuts. When I asked him in a parliamentary question what the money saved would be spent on, he said that it would be put into daycare services, depending on priority. I cannot see what could be a higher priority than what the money is currently used for.

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