Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein)
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The issue of the pandemic was raised earlier. When the first pandemic payment was announced it was the basic €203 a week. There was absolute uproar from people who argued they cannot be expected to live on this. Very quickly there was a U-turn, a flip-flop, whatever you want to call it, and it went up to €350. That was a classic example of when everybody looked at this and they said, sorry, but they did not have a chance of coping on €203 a week. Also, health outcomes are an important issue when we talk about poverty and deprivation. The Irish Cancer Society produced a heat map which was done in my constituency in Dublin West. If anyone knows Dublin West, the Ongar Road goes right down the middle of it. On one side is Blakestown district electoral division, DED, and on the other side is Castleknock DED. A person who lives in the Blakestown DED is three times more likely to die of cancer than those who live in the Castleknock DED, and twice as likely to die of any other illness, depending on which side of that road he or she lives. Obviously there are exceptions to that rule. However, a person who lives in poverty and deprivation or cannot afford private healthcare, which includes access to a GP and to a consultant, to get those early diagnoses, then obviously the outcomes are really poor. We cannot just talk about standard of living; we are talking about living. That is very important.

On the issue of inflation, it is normally discussed in the context of protecting people against the impact of inflation. Then it is discussed in terms of the excessive demand inflation has caused in the economy. Do the witnesses believe ensuring welfare payments are protected in real terms will drive up inflation? The argument is that if we give more money, then obviously that is going to drive up inflation. Lastly, has the figure of 145,000 for people who are working and in poverty changed in recent years? Has it gone up?