I appreciate that the Minister of State is giving the best information available to her, but I would like to ask a supplementary question in general terms. Is it a fact that no payments are being made at this time and no benefits in kind being paid from the Department? My information is that this is the case. This is just a direct question and I would like a direct answer to it, please. Are repayments being made at the moment?

Yes, quite a number of payments were made yesterday. I would like the Deputy to wait until after the next question to ask his direct question. A high percentage of the claims are not affected at present by the dispute. The new claims and certain claims which involve various telephone queries are affected, but quite a number of claims are still being paid.

That answer seems contradictory to information I received this morning that no payments at all are taking place at present.

Could we wait until Question No.6? Unless it is relevant to this question, I would prefer if we waited until Question No.6.