The new Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Mr Brennan, has said the mark of his ministry will be his fight to improve the lot of "the thousands and thousands" of vulnerable people in this society.
Speaking on his way into a pre-Budget forum in Dublin yesterday, he conceded he had been "disappointed to be appointed to a new ministry".
But he said he was "feeling a new sense of excitement about it". His new Department controlled one-third of the Government's total annual spend and with a budget this year of €11.3 billion was the biggest spending one.
"This appointment will be good for me and more importantly it will be good for the country," he said.
He denied having threatened to resign his Dáil seat if not kept in the Cabinet.
Asked about the so-called "savage 16" welfare cuts introduced in the last Budget by his predecessor, Ms Mary Coughlan, he said he had asked Department officials to "go through those adjustments" with a view to altering or rescinding them. "If there are cases of hardship as a result of those adjustments I will reverse them," he said.
The cuts which have caused the most vocal opposition have been the reduction in entitlement to rent allowance, the abolition of the crêche supplement, the phasing out of the dietary supplement and changes to reduce uptake of the back-to-education allowance.
Mr Brennan told The Irish Times he also wanted to do away with the apparently petty rules and bureaucracy which saw some people lose entitlements if, for example, they took up training or low-paid jobs." If the rules aren't delivering they shouldn't be there."
Later, in an impassioned address to the 30 lobby groups who had been invited to meet him, Mr Brennan said he had worked hard all his political life to "grow this country and to make it stronger".
While he had always been an admirer of the former Fianna Fáil leader, Mr Seán Lemass, one thing he disagreed with him on was his dictum that a rising tide lifted all boats. "It doesn't lift all boats. Some get left behind."
He said that, today, Ireland was at the very top in terms of economic performance.
"The purpose of economic growth is to target it at the most vulnerable in society. There are a lot of people out there having very tough times today. It is disgraceful. It is disgraceful that people in the 21st century, in a leading economy, struggle like that."
He would "apply all of my energy, work tirelessly, every single day" to improve the situation of people represented by the 30 lobby groups he met yesterday. Among them were the One Parent Exchange Network, the Society of St Vincent de Paul, Age Action Ireland, the Children's Rights Alliance, the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed and the Travellers organisation Pavee Point.
"I don't have a magic formula or easy solutions. But one thing I am good at is rolling up my sleeves and fighting around the Cabinet table for resources. I am looking forward to doing it for the people you represent."
The vice president of the Society of St Vincent de Paul, Mr John Monaghan, said he welcomed the Minister's tone.
"He's renowned for being a person who likes to plan and if he can draw up a plan to address the real needs of the thousands of people we come into contact with every week, and roll it out, he has our full support."
