Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is no legal, political or any other definition of a core payment. Deputy Burton is not able to give such a definition when questioned. However, I can tell the House that for an elderly lady in Kells who is saving up for a tank of oil, the fuel allowance is very much a core payment. The Minister would be better off being straight and honest with the people. It would be better for her to say that the Department was cutting tens of thousands of people off from welfare entirely, that it was cutting their payments to zero, at the altar of political expediency. That is the honest truth of what is happening.

At the election, the promise was "Cross our hearts, hope to die, we will not cut child benefit ", because every little hurts. That was the priority then that was to be advertised in the papers. Now we have leaks about what is to happen and these are frightening families all over Ireland. This is not a question of welfare policy or money, but a question of political honesty and integrity. The Government parties were prepared to make these promises to vulnerable people who were struggling, and then at the altar of political convenience say "Sorry, we cannot do it". The programme the Government is following is the exact same programme Fianna Fáil brought in with the IMF before the election. The projections are exactly the same. The Labour Party had the figures at the time, but it just went out and lied to the people.