Dr. Karina Doorley:

Budget 2022 was framed around trying to compensate households for expected increases in prices. When it comes to budget 2023, it might be wise to take a retrospective look at how well the changes announced in budget 2022 worked in compensating households for rising prices. Government should keep that in mind when formulating policy for budget 2023 and ask if indexation of the entire system is an appropriate response. The answer may be "Yes" or "No". It should ask whether there are certain groups who need to see increases in their welfare payments or whether there should be increases in the PRSI bands or the USC bands. Government must be conscious of what happens in terms of inflation over the course of 2022 and look ahead to 2023 to make sure that purchasing power is maintained as far as possible while still allowing policy makers scope to target particular groups that they feel need additional policy instruments, for whatever reason.