Ms Niamh O'Donoghue:

Certainly the nature of the community welfare service has changed. The back to school clothing and footwear allowance was taken away and created almost as a separate scheme a number of years ago. That is a separate arrangement which is actually not provided through the community welfare service per se. The vast bulk of recipients of that particular payment receive it automatically from us, and a smaller proportion can apply and we will assess them.

In respect of other guidelines, I must be very clear that community welfare officers have continued to be allowed to exercise whatever discretion they need in any circumstance. However-----