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

The ESRI and my Department have published independent data showing we have been successful in protecting those on lower incomes from the effects of inflation, in particular through a combination of one-off measures and core social welfare increases. I did not say in any presentation that we do not have people who are still living in situations of low income. I did not deny for a moment the existence of poverty within our country still, although I want to alleviate it. I did make the case, which we can back up independently, that a combination of one-off measures and an increase in core social welfare rates did insulate many people from the increase in prices that happened across the two-year period of high inflation.