Mr. Niall Egan:

On the first question, the poverty rates I quoted are based on the SILC 2022 data. For the committee to be aware, the SILC 2022 data are based on income from 2021, from the period January to December 2021. They do not factor in any social welfare increases in budget 2022, budget 2023 or the once-off lump-sum payments at the end of last year. They are measuring poverty based on deprivation returns from surveys based in the first half of last year, but the income information is collated on the previous year. Therefore, there is a disconnect in the timing. Social welfare rates increased in 2021 but the reason poverty increased is because the median or midpoint income, which is how we measure the relative poverty, in Irish society increased, and in respect of people on fixed incomes, if their income had not increased by the same amount, if they were close to the threshold, they could have fallen into poverty. I think the Deputy’s point is still the same, but the time lag-----