Balancing the books - We should do more than cut welfare

THERE was something refreshing about Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin’s plain speaking yesterday morning when she confirmed that child benefit and social welfare payments will be cut in the December budget.

It was not that she said anything new, it was certainly not that she focused on social welfare. Neither was it that she insisted that specific cuts could not be identified or finalised until the impact of a range of cuts on families was fully understood.

What was reassuring was her promise that she would do her utmost to protect vulnerable members of our society. Though she did not use the phrase she tacitly acknowledged the “decency threshold” everyone in this country wishes to see protected would be protected.