Anne Ferris (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 280: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to the alarm created among older persons by media reports suggesting that the IMF was seeking the abolition of or cuts to a range of benefits provided by her Department services to assist elderly persons, including pensions, free travel and medical cards; her response to any such request; if she is planning to implement any such cuts; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14119/12]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The IMF recently completed the fifth review of the Programme of Financial Support for Ireland and stated that the Government has met the 2011 fiscal targets and is advancing structural reforms to support growth and job creation. As the Deputy will be aware, expenditure by the State continues to exceed income by an unsustainable margin and consequently, further changes are needed, on both the income and expenditure sides.

The IMF staff report for the latest review identifies areas of Irish social welfare expenditure which they believe merit examination in the context of the continuing reform of the system and fiscal consolidation. This is not a cause for alarm as any changes to the schemes operated by the Department will be decided by the Cabinet in the context of this ongoing review of expenditure and in the context of deciding the fiscal consolidation measures to be included in Budget 2013.

That consideration will take place in the context of the commitments in the Programme for Government to protect the most vulnerable in society and will be informed by, among other things, the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure, which was published as part of the Budget 2012 process.