Minister for Social Protection Éamon Ó Cuív said the Government will continue to look at "all angles" in relation to the budget and will try to be "as fair as possible to every sector of society that depends on the State for support".
He had earlier signalled that pensioners may not be exempt from cuts ahead of a further Cabinet meeting on the budget today.
Asked today whether everybody, including pensioners and the wealthy, would have to contribute something to the budget adjustments, Mr Ó Cuív said the Government had not yet finished its deliberations.
"I can’t make a wide statement like that, but there will have to be savings made on the social welfare budget. That is obvious."
He said that on the other hand, rumours he had heard about "across-the-board cuts of €20 and €30 per head are totally ridiculous".
"A €30 cut across the board would raise about €3 billion. I don’t think anybody believes that any government would raise half the [required] money from social welfare. So there’s a lot of scaremongering out there. It concerns me because it’s frightening people."
Mr Ó Cuív said there were "wild rumours" about the budget but the Government had to "look at all angles of it and try to be as fair as possible to every sector of society that depends on the State for support".
He believed the budget would be accepted by the Dáil and that the Government would be able to implement its four-year financial plan.
“To me, that is the certainty not only that the international markets want, but it is the certainty that the Irish people want," he said.
“People are worried. We fully understand that. We have a clear path laid out that we must bring in the four-year plan. We have to bring in a Budget with €6 billion of savings or adjustments or raising of taxes….We are absolutely confident that we will get the support of Dáil Éireann for that and will implement that plan."
The Minister said he believed the Government had "the cohesiveness and the determination" to see the plan through. If there was an election, however, "one would not know what the answer to that election might be".
Yesterday, Mr Ó Cuív said: “To say that no one over 65 years can afford to make a contribution is patently nonsense."
Ruling out a reintroduction of the Christmas bonus for social welfare recipients, Mr Ó Cuív said rich pensioners would have to make some contribution in the budget.
“There are people over 65 who have pension pots that are literally worth millions of euro, so you cannot say that in all measures in the budget tax and otherwise that any particular income is absolutely immune to cutbacks,” he said.
Strong opposition to cutting the old age pension has been expressed at meetings of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party while the Green Party has also come out against such a move. However, some of the entitlements enjoyed by people over 65, such as higher income tax thresholds, larger tax credits, exemption from Dirt tax and a range of free State services, are likely to be curtailed.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen has stressed in recent days that no final decisions on the detail of the budget cuts have yet been made. The Cabinet, which met yesterday, will meet again today for further budget talks.
Last night the two Independents who back the Government, Michael Lowry and Jackie Healy-Rae, expressed their opposition to any cuts in the old age pension.
Mr Lowry told The Irish Times that he had put down a marker telling the Government not to touch the pension and that position had not changed. "A budget which reduces the old age pension will not be passed by the Dáil. Its as simple as that," he said.
Jackie Healy-Rae and his son, Michael, who will be the candidate in South Kerry at the next election, met the Taoiseach yesterday to convey their views on the budget.
In a statement afterwards, they said they had raised their “grave concerns” with regard to any proposed cuts to the old age pensions or the carer’s allowance.
“While recognising the terrible financial situation our country is in, they were adamant south and southwest Kerry will not be forgotten and left behind,” the statement read.
In the Dáil yesterday, Labour’s spokesman on justice Pat Rabbitte called on the Taoiseach to hold an immediate general election. “It is like the last days of the Roman Empire around here at present. Would it not be better for the Taoiseach to get into his car, go to the Áras and dissolve the Dáil, and let us return some certainty and confidence to the governance of this country?” he asked.
Mr Cowen rejected the suggestion, saying the Government was determined to bring forward a four-year plan and a budget. “If the deputy believes, in the context of the scale of the challenges that face us at present, that a further election based on the divergence of policy that is emerging on the other side of the House would give us an outcome that would provide certainty, he is a better man than me,” the Taoiseach said.
