Widows’ benefits – U-turns becoming a nasty habit

EMBARRASSING u-turns are the order of the day for the Fianna Fail-PD coalition.

No sooner was Taoiseach Bertie Ahern forced to make a humiliating ground-shift in the Gilmartin affair at the Mahon tribunal, than Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Coughlan had to perform a begrudging reversal of her outrageous attempt to take social welfare benefits from widows and widowers.

It was yet another illustration of an administration out of touch with the reality of daily life in Ireland.