Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I concur with what the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, has just said. We published our expenditure report for the year in the aftermath of budget 2023. What it indicated is that for the lowest income decile within society, the combination of the energy credits, social welfare, tax changes, and changes in regard to public transport, the change in income for them across this year due to the budget was 6%. For the next decile, it was 5.4% and for the third decile, it was 4.2%. This is before the impact of any increase in pay during that period. We are not saying for a moment that the entire effect of inflation for any one worker or one citizen within the country has been offset by these measures. Everybody's income and living standard is different. We can make the case that for many, the combination of one-off measures, tax changes and wage growth has meant that most of the impact of inflation on living standards was absorbed by measures that were brought in this year.