You ask the questions: Mary Hanafin

Which is the hardest to deal with: An unruly group of students or the egos around the cabinet table?

Ego, what egos? We have 15 different/strong personalities around the cabinet table, but there isn’t much room for egos. Believe me, it’s the teenagers who have the egos and the politicians who are unruly.

Do plans to link the single-parent allowance to jobs and marriage [I think the word “values” was quoted in relation to his reform] not represent a politicisation of welfare? It strikes me that tying payments to values like relationships or marriage is a highly political move affecting the hardest-up in our society and limiting the individuals’ privacy.