No welfare cuts for next five years if Labour return to government, pledges Howlin

There will be no cuts to welfare payments over the next five years, if the Labour Party is returned to government, Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin has pledged.

The senior Labour politician said that the era of cuts was over and that a quality standard of life was needed for all, with a goal of full employment by 2018.

Mr Howlin said that the Oireachtas Inquiries referendum to empower politician-led investigations could be rerun, though the people voted it down in 2011.