Brennan urged to reverse rent supplement cut

Social welfare: The new Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Mr Brennan, may have been disappointed with his new job, but he has stepped into the biggest spending Department in Government, with a record budget for this year of €11.2 billion.

Mr Brennan could immediately "regain the confidence of the most marginalised in society" by reversing the "savage sixteen" welfare cuts, groups working with the poor said yesterday.

Mr Patrick Burke, director of the housing charity Threshold, urged him to immediately revisit the cuts introduced by his predecessor, Ms Coughlan. In particular, groups called on Mr Brennan to reverse the rent supplement cut. Centrecare and City Centre (Dublin) Citizens Information Service described this as "the most harsh of the 'Savage Sixteen' cuts" implemented by Ms Coughlan and said it had resulted in considerable "hardship" for the most vulnerable in society.

Ms Noeleen Hartigan, policy officer with the Simon Communities of Ireland, said the cut was unevenly implemented and "self evidently needs to be revisited".

Ms Frances Byrne, director of the One Parent Exchange Network, said: "Given the economic outlook for the next year, it is clear he has the money to reverse these cuts, especially the meanest of them - the rent supplement cut, the creche allowance cut and the MABS allowance cut."