Burton’s welfare protection claims fail to win Labour minister support

Senior Labour Cabinet ministers have refused to echo Joan Burton’s insistence that key welfare payments will be spared from cuts in the looming budget.

The Social Protection Minister sparked unease among Fine Gael colleagues when she appeared to ringfence weekly benefits from being hit in October’s reordering of the country’s finances.

Public Expenditure and Reform Minister Brendan Howlin and Education Minister Ruairi Quinn both pointedly refused to endorse Ms Burton’s claim that welfare recipients would not be hit in the €3.1bn tax and cut budget in six weeks.