Hanafin: 'No significant welfare payment increases this year'

The Social Affairs Minister is warning that significant increases to social welfare payments may not be possible this year.

Mary Hanafin met with social and community groups in Dublin this morning to discuss the upcoming budget.

Thirty groups, including Barnardos, Age Action Ireland and Saint Vincent De Paul, will make submissions to the Minister about the measures they would like to see implemented.

But Minister Hanafin says the recent economic changes will mean any increases to dole payments will not be as generous as those seen in recent years.

"It won’t be possible to meet all the needs of everybody because the international scene is changing so much and the financial situation of the country is changing so much.

"Increases in the order of what was given last year and the year before are not possible," he said.