A GOVERNMENT department focusing on job creation will aim to reduce the number of people claiming the dole by putting them on back to work schemes.

Everyone under the age of 50 will now have to work an extra three years before retiring, the Government announced today.

FARMERS’ wives shocked by a decision by the Department of Social and Family Affairs to take back their pensions have appealed the move to the Pensions Ombudsman.

SOCIAL Affairs minister Mary Hanafin has claimed plans to cut vital financial support to 87,840 single parent families would be in the best interest of Ireland’s economic future.

DOCTORS skirted a bureaucratic logjam to save the life of two critically ill child victims of Haiti’s earthquake yesterday, flying them to US hospitals on a private jet to avoid a military suspension of medical evacuation flights.

Ten Americans were detained by Haitian police as they tried to bus 33 children across the border into the Dominican Republic, allegedly without proper documents.

HOSPITAL emergency departments were further stretched over Christmas because of the number of people injured after falling on icy roads and footpaths, new figures show.

The Social Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin has said she and her Government colleagues are "appalled" by the way the Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan's illness was disclosed on television.

Social Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin today insisted that any cuts to social welfare benefits in the upcoming budget will be made on a fair basis.

PARENTS could be facing cuts of up to 10% in child benefit payments in next week’s hairshirt budget.

THE EU is to send a mission of experts to examine the damage caused by the catastrophic flooding and offer up to €26 million in aid.

A €12m emergency fund for flooding victims was tonight dismissed as too little to cope with the devastation.

THE Government has agreed to set up a special cabinet committee of several ministers to address the growing concern over personal debt and mortgage arrears.

ALMOST one million people are facing a tougher Christmas after the Government said it had no plans to alter the decision not to pay the traditional social welfare bonus.

DOLE processing times remain at an all-time high despite commitments by the Social Affairs Minister to commit more staff to speed up welfare payments.

Social Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin today refused to ease senior citizens’ fears over a possible cut to the old age pension in the December budget.

FIANNA Fáil has defended Tánaiste Mary Coughlan’s absence from the party’s press conferences on Lisbon, insisting nothing should be read into it.

SOCIAL Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin has called for a debate on whether all mothers should continue to be entitled to child benefit.

A GOVERNMENT funded money advice service has beefed up negotiating powers with the banks so it can better help struggling borrowers reach new repayment terms with their lenders.

More than 50,000 young people signing on the Live Register are being urged to improve their education, skills and qualifications during the recession, it emerged today.

More than half a million social welfare claims were processed last year as unemployment soared, it emerged today.

ANOTHER Government minister was forced to defend Tánaiste Mary Coughlan yesterday as the row over her ability continued.

Many private sector retirees face having their pensions frozen under a radical new Government initiative revealed today.

MORE than a million people will be affected by the Government’s decision to scrap the Christmas social welfare bonus, and some will be forced into the hands of moneylenders, Labour has warned.

The Social Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin says she can't commit to a reversal of the axing of the Christmas bonus this year.

Social Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin says the Exchequer will make up any deficit that may arise in the social insurance fund.

THE Taoiseach and Finance Minister swaggered into the Dáil chamber in the manner of the hit men from Reservoir Dogs.

NEWLY unemployed people are waiting for up to three months for their first social welfare payments in some parts of the country, Government figures have revealed.

THERE will be a massive public outcry if the Government cuts allowances for carers, an Oireachtas committee has been warned.

Senior Irish MEPs tonight said they were confident top European officials would sign-off on a multi-million euro handout to support laid-off Dell employees.

SOCIAL Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin has said that unemployment levels are even higher than the record rises in Central Statistics Office figures suggest.

THE Government is to assign an additional 115 staff to social welfare offices across the country to deal with the growing backlog in unemployment claims.

CABINET colleagues came to the defence of Health Minister Mary Harney yesterday after she became embroiled in the Fás expenses controversy.

Irish politicians have been congratulating Democratic candidate Barack Obama following his victory over John McCain in the US presidential election.

Ireland will pay out €20bn euro in benefits next year as tens of thousands flock to dole queues, the Government predicted today.

IT’S Hallowe’en, but after events of recent weeks, there will be few Government ministers with an appetite for horror movies tonight.

The Department of Social Welfare is abandoning plans to raise the age for the payment of the disability allowance from 16 to 18.

BUDGET cutbacks which “hurt badly” contributed to Fianna Fáil’s disastrous performance in the latest opinion poll, which showed the party’s support at an all-time low, a senior minister has said.

PENSIONERS, lone parents, unemployed people and other social welfare recipients will get their traditional “bonus” payment this year.

THE cabinet reached agreement yesterday on the bulk of what is expected to be the harshest budget since the late 1980s.

Subsuming the Combat Poverty Agency into a Government department would destroy the watchdog’s independence and ability to carry out vital work, it was warned today.

THE board of Combat Poverty is to meet in an emergency session tomorrow to devise a survival plan amid further indications that the agency will be scrapped as a government cost-cutting measure.

AT least 23 Indonesians were crushed to death trying to collect $4.25 (€3) in cash handouts from a rich family at a charity event marking the Islamic holy month, officials said. Eight others were critically injured in the stampede.

HOSPITAL chiefs have begun contacting employees in the last week notifying them of the potential misuse of over 1,000 personal bank details contained on a laptop stolen three years ago.