Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is no getting away from the fact the inflation we have experienced in the past year and a half or so has really hurt people. We have not seen inflation at these levels for about 40 years. It has had a significant impact. I am sure the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, will point out in a moment the analysis his Department has done on the combined impact on lower income households of all the measures the Government has introduced, namely, the core budget measures, the temporary budget measures including the energy credits and so on. The combined impact has been very significant on the lower decile income groups, which is absolutely the way it should be. The independent assessment of the last budget has been that it was progressive in nature. The same applied to the one before that. The Government provided more supports to those who most needed them. That is the way it should be and that will continue to be the approach of the Government.

The Deputy made a point about the inflationary impact of different types of allocation decisions. Where resources are provided to people who are better off, they may well not spend that money because they do not need it, so that is not inflationary. Of course, we have to take into account wider issues and focus resources on those who need them most.

There is no doubt but that for many, living standards took a step back over the past 12 months because their income did not grow in line with inflation. The evidence backs up my argument that when we look at the distributive analysis of the combination of Government measures, they have largely protected lower income groups. We have worked really hard to target as much of the resources as we possibly could to ensure that outcome. The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, has the analysis here and he might just take us through it.