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Eamonn Farrell/Photocall Ireland

Burton ‘can’t rule out welfare cuts’ – even though Gilmore already has

Joan Burton believes it’s too early to say where the Budget will hit, 39 days after Eamon Gilmore ruled out welfare cuts.

SOCIAL PROTECTION MINISTER Joan Burton has admitted that December’s Budget may wield the axe on social welfare spending – despite assertions from the Taoiseach and Tánaiste that spending would be safeguarded.

RTÉ News reports remarks made by Burton at an event in Dublin this morning, where she said she could not offer a commitment that welfare would not be cut in December’s measures, which will seek to make up a shortfall of around €3.8bn.

There was better value for money to be had in the social welfare system, Burton said.

But less than six weeks ago – when they gave a press conference to mark their 100th day in power – Burton’s party leader, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore, and the Taoiseach Enda Kenny pledged that social welfare spending would not be hit in the Budget.

At that press conference, the pair also pledged not to increase income taxes.

A government spokeswoman this afternoon commented that the Taoiseach and Tánaiste had said the social welfare rates would not be cut, but that the spending on social welfare would be reduced through other means.

Yesterday, addressing the MacGill Summer School in Glenties, Kenny announced a “radical shake-up in our welfare, employment and training systems”.

More: Enda Kenny announces ‘radical’ changes to welfare >

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52 Comments
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    Mute Get Ta France
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    Jul 11th 2011, 6:14 PM

    Roll on 2moro!!!!!! Can’t wait!!

    97
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    Mute Feargal Garvin
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    Jul 11th 2011, 6:28 PM

    I hope he means ‘metaphorically’ and not ‘literally’.

    68
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    Mute Paul Driscoll
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    Jul 11th 2011, 7:31 PM

    Would be a lot more useful if these idiots tackled countries such as China, Iran and Burma that restrict free access to the Internet. Suppose it’s not newsworthy though.

    40
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    Mute Collie Woods
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    Jul 11th 2011, 8:40 PM

    They have recently. Iran was hit by op anti sec. Government departments.

    So there.

    26
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    Mute Collie Woods
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    Jul 11th 2011, 8:42 PM

    You won’t here about it with mainstream media. Try arstechnica.com or wired.com

    20
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    Mute gareth byrne
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    Jul 11th 2011, 9:35 PM

    can they transfare funds into ecb to bail out italy.since the rest of europ is broke.

    24
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    Mute Richard Keogh
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    Jul 11th 2011, 10:45 PM

    I’d prefer if they transferred out of the ECB into Ireland seeing as they’ve screwed us over for the last few years.

    19
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    Mute John Mack
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    Jul 11th 2011, 10:56 PM

    and all across the land IT staff plugged out their modems at home just in case, the work ones can wait till after coffee.

    17
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    Mute Nigel Kenny
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    Jul 11th 2011, 7:22 PM

    Non starter. No-one in Anonymous has any skill beyond SQL injection and DDoS attacks.

    16
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    Mute Mike Reid
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    Jul 12th 2011, 10:25 AM

    They do this to show that big fancy businesses can’t even protect from basic attacks such sql injection or ddos attacks and we’re supposed to trust them with our details.

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    Mute Gis Bayertz
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    Jul 11th 2011, 8:04 PM

    Just criminals

    15
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    Mute Trevor Nolan
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    Jul 11th 2011, 11:42 PM

    …as opposed to unjust criminals? I agree!

    36
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    Mute mr g
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    Jul 12th 2011, 1:06 AM

    Can’t wait to see what they do! Fair play to them exposing the flaws in Internet security. It’s the ones that sneak in and say nothing you need to worry about

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    Mute chrissy
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    Jul 11th 2011, 11:21 PM

    It’s just someone with an agenda
    Spoilists if such a term exists.
    Brilliant brilliant minds used for mediocre purposes.
    Why don’t you try famine, disease, dictatorships etc etc
    Attack them, if you win ……. the world wins
    God bless you and help you to make the right decision

    4
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    Mute fizi_water
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    Jul 12th 2011, 8:22 AM

    Because they don’t have Internet? :-) To be serious, all this hacking is not directed at “who”, it is way more often directed at “viable of doing or not?”. Of course there is extra pride and hype amongst hacker groups if they manage hit something big. But reality is they always look for weak targets and easy points first and then just narrow down more and more to select something attractive. In other words, they hack what they can, not necessarily what they would like to.

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    Mute Jamie Dunne
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    Jul 15th 2011, 12:04 PM

    Guys… anyone know what a false-flag attack is ?? …9/11 … the government / powers that be are gearing up to shut down the web as we know it… and reboot with a new COMPLETELY CONTROLED & CENSORED Web.. …using security fears / blaming hackers for there actions…
    Must Watch >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDwsslGcC4w

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