Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is correct. It is now less than a month from Christmas, which is a wonderful time for families and children. It is a time for excitement, friends and celebration, but it can also be a very stressful time, particularly when it comes to getting the house ready, buying presents and finding the money to do all of that. I absolutely acknowledge that. To assist people and families, particularly those on low incomes, with the cost of Christmas, we fully restored the Christmas bonus in the budget. In the next week or so, the Christmas bonus will be paid at 100%. That is the first time it has been paid at 100% in seven or eight years. It is a shame that Sinn Féin is not supporting the budget. It should support it. One of the reasons it should do so is that the budget makes provision for the 100% Christmas bonus, as does the Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration 2018.

In March, there will be further increases in the working family payment for low income families who are working, increases in the qualified child payment for families on welfare and increases in the minimum wage will come into effect in January. As a Government, we are working very hard to increase pay in a sustainable way, reduce taxes in a sustainable way, increase welfare in a sustainable way and also reduce the cost of living where that is under our control.

In terms of regulation of financial services, as the Deputy is aware, we have a system of independent financial regulation. The Central Bank is the regulator. It is not the Government that is issuing licences to banks, moneylenders or the financial services industry. As far as I am aware, the Deputy is not proposing that the Government should take over the Central Bank and become the regulator. We have independent financial services in Ireland for very good reasons. That is the norm across Europe and it should remain the case.

Regarding moneylenders or people offering high-interest loans, I echo the Deputy's sentiments. It is important that people are very careful in taking out such loans and that, if they do, they are confident they can pay them back. Anyone who takes out a loan is responsible for repaying it. Anyone who takes out a loan has a responsibility to make sure they are able to pay it back.

There are alternatives. For example, the credit unions, working with the Department of Social Protection, offer low-cost loans. We call it the It Makes Sense loan. It is not available in every credit union but is available in many of them. I launched it when I was Minister for Social Protection. It has been very successful and allows people to take out a short-term loan at a low interest rate to meet costs such as Christmas. That can then be deducted from their credit union account or welfare payment.

People can also seek urgent needs payments from their community welfare officers. I would ask people to consider alternatives and, if they do take out a loan, to always consider the fact that they may not be able to pay it back.

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