Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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Ms Rogers is not encouraging us to grow old, I am afraid. We are becoming an older generation, however, and we have to take that into account. That is where the fear is. Deputy Donnelly said that many people are going to his constituency office. It is a similar situation in my constituency in rural Ireland. People are telling me they cannot afford this anymore. Even with the cost-of-living increases they got, they were still panicking. If those cost-of-living increases are taken from them, they will definitely be panicking.

I will ask two consecutive questions, if that is okay. I am conscious of the clock. With regard to the fact that price indexation is viewed as a standstill policy, what measures could be put in place to ensure such indexation actually benefits those who need it most, such as elderly people who are solely dependent on the State pension? This is what we are talking about.

At present, it does not even come up to the minimum essential standard of living levels. People are disproportionately affected by the cost-of-living and fuel crises, which is what we are talking about. These people need benchmarking to bring their living standard up to at least a minimum essential standard of living.

I will go back to Dr. McDonnell. He said in his opening statement that, "Once an appropriate set of benchmarks is established for each of the welfare rates there would need to be a two-stage process." Will he elaborate on that so I can get a grasp of it, please?