Updated, 10.16

THE GOVERNMENT has this morning affirmed that the forthcoming budget will not cut social welfare rates.

In this morning’s Irish Times, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said that the Department of Social Protection’s budget would have to be cut in line with other departments, which meant that welfare expenditure would simply have to be reduced.

Asked by Stephen Collins whether he could uphold his June commitment not to cut welfare rates, Gilmore said: “Sometimes these things are often misinterpreted. There is no doubt that social welfare expenditure has to come down.”

Gilmore asserted that his declaration, given alongside Enda Kenny at the ’100 Days in Government’ press conference in late June, was merely a restatement of the programme for government.

This morning, however, a spokesman affirmed said the government was still committed to maintaining social welfare rates, but that overall welfare spending would be reduced by other means.

Among the measures being used to help cut overall expenditure is an ongoing campaign to cut social welfare fraud, which has saved the State around €345m so far this year.

The Department of Social Protection was allocated €14.2bn in last year’s Budget, up by around €900m on the previous year.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio this morning, communications minister Pat Rabbitte said the three biggest-spending departments – which included the Social Protection department – had to reduce spending, “however unpalatable and however challenging” that would have to be.

“They have been going through their expenditure line by line, seeing what can be cut out, what can be amalgamated, and so on and so forth,” Rabbitte said, adding that there was a great “esprit de corps” among ministers in their task to revive the economy.

John Stewart of the Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed said his body would be very concerned if the government was to backtrack on its apparent commitment to freeze social welfare rates.

“In terms of the basic unemployment rate, the basic €188 per week, our perspective is that the Taoiseach and Tánaiste have committed to maintaining that rate. That’s one thing we would want to see preserved in the forthcoming budget.

“The best way to reduce Social Welfare expenditure is to get people back to work. That’s clearly the best way of doing this,” he said, adding that the government should see support for social welfare recipients as an investment rather than a cost.