Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My apologies, I was in the Dáil dealing with the Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022. If my questions are repetitive, I can look at the blacks. This is the first time I have seen the Minister since the passing of his mother so I want to sympathise with him and his family. I hope they are all keeping well in these difficult times.

We are here to discuss the SPU, but a number of things have changed since it was published, which I will come to. Focusing on the cost of living and looking at the assumptions that underpinned the budget, inflation was at 2.2% but it is at an average of 6.2% this year, according to the SPU. A social welfare package was outlined in the budget last year to recognise that those on fixed incomes are some of the most vulnerable in society. The facts now scream at us that this cohort of society will be much poorer this year than last year, and even poorer than in 2020. The figures indicate that those on core social welfare rates will see their incomes fall by 4% in real terms compared with last year, while compared with 2020, it will be a fall of 6.2%. Does the Minister accept, given what we know today, that the social welfare package is inadequate to protect the most vulnerable in society from the real price increases that so many families are facing and there is, therefore, a need to increase social welfare core payments?