Howlin won't be drawn on public sector allowances

The Public Expenditure Minister is refusing to be drawn on claims he is not going to tackle allowances in the public sector.

Brendan Howlin is bringing a report to Cabinet this evening on more than 800 allowances.

But despite plans to save up to €150m a year, it is claimed the coalition may decide to just scrap a handful of the allowances.

“You'll forgive me until I bring the report to cabinet and the cabinet makes a decision on it,” Howlin said. “I think it’s not a secret that the memorandum is before government but whether we get around to finalising our deliberations on it I don’t know.”