Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I agree with the points made by Deputy Shortall in this regard. A couple will get €424 and a person living alone will get €212. The single person's amount needs to pay all the same bills, with the exception of food and clothing. It is simply not possible for them to do it. The Minister needs to give considerably more attention to this area. It is wrong to refer to giving the increase across the board. It does not sort out the problem for the person who is living alone and needs to face those bills. The small amount they get from the allowance is almost an irrelevance in terms of the costs they are facing.

Owing to restrictions on costs to the Exchequer, we were constrained in the way we could word the amendment. We have asked the Minister to provide a report on the living alone allowance. I ask him to genuinely investigate the benefits of increasing it and get an accurate report from his departmental officials of the additional costs faced by a person living alone so we can have a fair discussion on the matter. While all areas of social welfare provision have justification, people in these circumstances are genuinely struggling to make ends meet. Not increasing the allowance has made their lives extremely difficult. Listening to people directly affected by the issue brings home very clearly the difficult conditions under which they are living.

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