Mr. Ciar?n Nugent:

At the time, it seemed that way, but it was indicative of the absolute inadequacy of the €188 that came before it. It was out of the blue. I never saw the cost of living totted up as €350 or anything like that. The Vincentian MESL Research Centre picks a normal basket of goods. I always point out that a weekly food budget of €50 is used for a single adult. If you get a sandwich five times per week, that is half your budget. Therefore, the budget is really the minimum. On a weekly basis, the figure would be much more than €350. The calculation is actually based on a 39-hour week as well. One could do the research with a round table. The budget is based on a single adult but reasonable calculations could be done that account for the additional costs associated with children, etc.

Some of the comments on going in this direction rather than using a medium wage or median income imply people would be fighting over what is the minimum amount or essential amount. I pointed out before that there was a conversation in the UK a couple of weeks ago on costs. It was stated that Weetabix three times a day costs only a pound or something like that. One might have people who want to contribute in that manner. However, if you look at how they calculate the living wage, you see that everything is minimal. We could not see anybody trying to undercut it. It is as if a bus ticket, shampoo or cleaning products are not needed. The actual figure is between €450 and €500 for a single adult. That is a national figure, not one for Dublin. These considerations should be at the fore in benchmarking for adequacy and the cost of living. Maybe the figure should be inflation based.