SHUTTING down the Combat Poverty Agency (CPA) did not lead to any significant cost savings, the opposition claimed last night after it emerged the Government is still paying €400,000 in rent for empty offices after the agency moved out.

THE changing face of the modern Irish family has been revealed.

THE VHI’s 1.5 million customers face an increase in charges of 8% next month.

SIX Independent TDs have been urged to vote down a series of controversial social welfare cuts before they are passed by the Dáil this evening.

SOCIAL welfare payments will be cut by 4.1%, affecting everyone under pensionable age and raising fears that thousands of younger jobseekers will now flee the country.

SOCIAL Welfare Minister Mary Hanafin has defended her department’s anti-fraud measures amid reports they are costing taxpayers €2 billion.

CONTROVERSIAL laws allowing transsexuals to be recognised in their acquired gender are likely to go before the Dáil next year following demands from the Green Party.

NO matter how dire Ireland’s economic situation has become, taking money from children should always be a last resort, five groups representing parents and children insisted yesterday.

STANDARDISATION of tax relief on pensions at 33% could save the Exchequer €500 million annually, according to a report on pensions issued yesterday by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

UP to 2,000 cash-strapped people are on waiting lists for face-to-face appointments for a free government-funded debt service, the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS).

FAMILY Resource Centres around the country have warned that despite a growing demand for their services among vulnerable families, their future is under threat as a result of the McCarthy report.

A COALITION of children’s rights groups has called on the Government to dump any plans to implement recommendations in the McCarthy Report.

The Minister for Social and Family Affairs is holding a pre-budget summit with community and voluntary groups today.

New legislation to reform procedures at the state training agency FÁS is expected to be published by the Government today.

MANAGEMENT at one of the country’s 62 non-civil servant run social welfare branch offices have described a refusal by the public sector to allow them to process new dole claims as “just another example of the gross inefficiency”.

THE taxation committee has recommended that a single tax relief should be introduced for all pension schemes and has proposed a new retirement savings system similar to the SSIA scheme.

THERE was something refreshing about Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin’s plain speaking yesterday morning when she confirmed that child benefit and social welfare payments will be cut in the December budget.

ALL social welfare payments should be slashed by 5% as part of swingeing cuts aimed at saving €1.8 billion across social and family affairs payments.

Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin has today said that the Government has made no decisions yet on how much social welfare payments will be cut by.

THE Government is unlikely to introduce any pension protection fund for workers despite official estimates that 90% of defined benefit pension schemes are presently underfunded.

The Minister for Social and Family Affairs says the Government has made no decisions yet about cuts to social welfare rates.

Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin is refusing to be drawn on the possibility of a cabinet reshuffle this year.

Government funding is being sought to recruit extra staff to help recession-hit families with money worries, it emerged today.

THE great majority of people realise and accept that anyone dependent on social welfare payments is not in an enviable position.

TWO indicators of how our society is changing have been given prominence over the last few days.

UNEMPLOYED people claiming the dole for the first time are waiting over three months in parts of the country to receive social welfare payments.

More than €7.8m is to be provided to 29 major organisations involved in marriage, child and bereavement counselling services throughout Ireland, it was announced today.

PEOPLE in receipt of rent allowance must be urged to get a better deal from landlords in order to bring down the artificially inflated bill for the taxpayer, Fine Gael spokeswoman on Social and Family Affairs Olwyn Enright has said.

Jobseekers can now download application forms from the web for benefits and allowances.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen is expected to make a “state of the nation” style address outlining challenges facing the country in a two-day Dáil debate on the economy, starting tomorrow.

THE number of people claiming disability allowance and illness benefit but later deemed fit to work by medical assessors increased last year.

AN OPPOSITION TD has claimed cutbacks on carers are already taking place, with incontinence sheets no longer available for all dementia patients.

ANY cuts to carers benefits will force thousands of people “to put their loved ones into State care,” further overcrowding the health service and adding billions to the Exchequer’s expenses.

WATERFORD CRYSTAL workers, fearing for their pensions, received mixed messages from the Government yesterday about the possibility of assistance from the state.

THERE is growing pressure on the Financial Regulator, Patrick Neary, to consider his position after several senior Government ministers voiced criticism over his handling of the banking scandal over the weekend.

AN POST will continue to provide payment services to social welfare customers, the Government confirmed yesterday.

CHILDREN will be forced to drop out of school next year as the economy plunges deeper into recession, the Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) warned yesterday.

SOON-TO-RETIRE workers fearful for their private pension funds have been assured the Government will support them — but only by giving them the standard old-age pension to which they are already entitled.

Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin has warned her government colleagues that tens of thousands of Irish pensions could be wiped out, as pension deficits could reach up to €30 billion.

RETIRING workers with pensions that have slumped in value due to the stock market collapse may be able to defer cashing in their investments until the market recovers.

THE Social Welfare Bill, published by the Government yesterday, was described as the meanest in decades with cuts to child benefit and jobseekers allowances.

The Minister for Social and Family Affairs has confirmed that welfare recipients will get their Christmas bonus this year.

PENSIONERS, the unemployed, widows and people with disabilities face an anxious wait to see if they will get their traditional Christmas social welfare bonus this year because of government cutbacks.

Government ministers have been warning today that when the Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan unveils his first budget tomorrow, it will be a tough one, impacting on everyone.