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19 November 2015

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'We'll do our best to protect people from Tory austerity,' says Executive panel leader

THE MAIN task of the Executive is to have in place a scheme which protects the most vulnerable from Tory imposed welfare cuts, Professor Eileen Evason told listeners to Radio Ulster's Talkback programme on Wednesday.

Professor Evason will lead a panel to decide where money will be spent to help offset Tory austerity measures.

Part of the 'Fresh Start' agreement will see the Executive provide £345million to help mitigate the worst excesses of Tory cutbacks in welfare, along with £240million in tax credit support over four years.

Ulster University's Professor Eileen Evason told listeners that her main task will be to “protect the most vulnerable, taking account of the limited resources and local circumstances” when welfare reform legislation goes through Westminster:

She said the uncertain situation claimants found themselves in over the last few months has been “maddening”:

“I think the general sense is, let’s get onto it, let’s produce the best scheme we can,” she said. “It won’t do everything for everybody and we know that but we’ve got to be realistic, we’ve just got to do our best,” she said.

Professor Evason said she would also be consulting with experts in England on the issue:

“My guess is they will say: 'Look Eileen, grab that with both hands, because it will help you to avoid an awful lot of the hardship that we’ve had over here.'”

Asked by presenter William Crawley whether the money secured in the deal was enough to offset the worst of the Conservative Government's cuts, Eileen Evason said:

“Well one can always do more, I think the issue is we’ve got to say, right, we’ve got a rough idea of the things that have been most damaging to people in England, therefore we’re going to address those first and say: 'Well how can we protect people from those?'

She said the group would also look at how the Scottish Government is working to insulate their citizens from such austerity measures:

“I’m sure they’ve got some very interesting ideas, so we’ve actually just got to say: 'We’re going to do our best and we’re going to try and end the muddle now.”

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