The Social Welfare Minister Eamon O'Cuiv has said there are no plans to introduce means testing for people on the Contributory State Pension.

ENTERPRISE Minister Mary Coughlan said the Government will consider ways to support employers who want to reduce working hours rather than make people redundant.

IT is not so very long since the national conversation was dominated by soaring property prices.

UNEMPLOYMENT is growing at pace never witnessed before, with one in 10 eligible workers now on social welfare, according to new statistics.

CHILDCARE is the biggest issue in areas where people feel disadvantaged, vulnerable and marginalised, a study reveals.

A €150m package of measures will be put in place next year to support the care of elderly or ill people in their own homes and communities.

DESPITE three out of four workers in the private sector not having a pension plan, the Irish Association of Pension Funds (IAPF) has come out against the extension of the mandatory State pensions system.

THE State will have to spend billions more than it envisaged on pensions in the coming decades, a Government strategy report indicated yesterday.

LETTERS are to be sent to 144,000 welfare payment recipients today giving details of a once-off double week’s payment to be made to them later this month.

Zimbabwe today said it did not need any international food aid, despite predictions of a humanitarian crisis with up to four million people at risk of famine.

IRELAND needs to raise its top rate of tax to 53c if we are to tackle the huge number of people at risk of poverty and bring our social welfare system in line with the best in Europe, an Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) study revealed yesterday.

MIND-BOGGLING is the only way to describe the hypocrisy of Fianna Fáil backbenchers.

MORE THAN 4,000 Cork people will be forced to protest on the streets if the plan to cutback the rent allowance scheme is implemented in next week’s Budget, Labour councillor Michael O’Connell has claimed.

GOVERNMENT ministers will have to dip into the public’s pockets to meet their departments’ spending demands, to be announced today.

SRI LANKA yesterday fought to feed and shelter more than 200,000 survivors of the worst floods and landslides to hit the island in half a century as the death toll rose to more than 300, officials said.

THE Taoiseach was yesterday accused of ignoring the plight of 5,000 homeless people who cannot get private rented accommodation because of new strict regulations.

THE Government hopes to save substantial amounts of money under a new law that will prevent asylum seekers from claiming rental allowance.

MILLIONS of euro from dormant accounts is to be ploughed into projects for disadvantaged and disabled people within the next few months.

TAXPAYERS are footing a bill of €2m a year for more than 100 civil servants who work exclusively on constituency issues for Government ministers.

OPPOSITION parties yesterday attacked Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy, accusing him of forcing ordinary people to pay for the Government’s election spending splurge.

OPPOSITION parties yesterday attacked Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy, accusing him of forcing ordinary people to pay for the Government’s election spending splurge.

A top US food aid official today warned Zimbabwe will face a “major famine” if the government does not clear away bureaucratic roadblocks and allow massive amounts of food to be imported by the end of the year.

THE Government and the European Commission denied yesterday that the Dáil would have to back EU enlargement if the Nice Treaty is rejected again.

PENSIONERS and other long-term welfare recipients will get their Christmas bonus this year in spite of swingeing cutbacks across all departments.

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Brian Cowen last night insisted there was "no truth" in reports of a secret deal between himself and Bertie Ahern over the leadership of the Fianna Fáil party.

This year’s budget must reflect the slowdown in the Irish economy, according to Social Welfare Minister Dermot Ahern.