Taoiseach Enda Kenny today declined to rule out cuts in child benefit in next month’s budget.
Amid speculation about proposals to cut €10 from the monthly allowance, Mr Kenny said no decisions had been made.
“I’m not going to answer is respect of the Cabinet now and the final decisions it will make. Nor should I. But I obviously am aware of the difficulties for all Ministers in cutting back in a situation where these things are never easy,” he said.
Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams called on the Taoiseach to give a “clear commitment” that there would be no cuts in child benefit.
“You should take this opportunity to be as clear on this issue as you have been on issues which benefit the elite,” Mr Adams said. “When you say you can’t take money back out of pensions, when you say you can’t take the bonuses of these big bankers, when you say you have to give €700 million to the bondholders, you’re very clear about that.
"So all I’m asking is that you be equally clear here today and say that the redline promises you made in the last election will be maintained in this Budget and make it clear that there will be no cuts in child benefit in the Budget," the Sinn Féin leader said.
Mr Kenny replied that he had spoken to people in the North who told him Sinn Féin refused school transport to children who wished to attend an all Irish school. “So much for care for the language,” he said.
“It is the responsibility of the Government to make decisions about the budget. This Government has set our task in fulfilling the mandate given to us by the people, to sort out our public finances, to get our deficit to 8.6 per cent, to take out €3.8 billion out of the economy next year.”
A whole range of issues across every Department “has been and is being examined”, he said, adding that the Government will make its decision “over the next few days”.
Dublin North Central Independent TD Finian McGrath called on the Taoiseach “not to play games” with child benefit, which, he said was hugely important to women in dysfunctional families where the man controlled the purse strings.
Child benefit was important to families paying their childcare costs and created many jobs in childcare services, he said. “From an economic point of view and jobs point of view, it does create jobs and a €10 cut is a threat to jobs,” he said. “It’s a bit rich and a bit hypocritical to be talking about children’s rights’ referendums in the future when you’re planning to take €10 off these poor families.”
Mr Kenny said the Cabinet was working on the programme for government and the “mandate given to the Government to sort out our public finances and to provide a social welfare system that encourages and incentivises work”.