Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive response. As he said himself, this is something which affects many people in many constituencies, so I will speak to the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, about it to see if it can be considered. I know it seems like the budget is a lifetime away but we are in February now and time flies by. Now is the time to start looking at the issue to see if a review can be carried out. I ask the Minister of State to take that request back. We have the case of the teacher on the one hand and the case of the man who took in neighbours because of an issue that was beyond their control. He was merely being kind to them but he got penalised for it. There has to be a degree of flexibility. I hope the Minister of State can highlight that with the Minister.