Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising once again the very real issue of the cost-of-living pressures people are facing. The Government acknowledges that a lot of people are under real pressure because of the rising cost of living. We all know the reasons the cost of living is increasing. There are external international factors. There are also domestic factors, including the really strong rebound in the Irish economy which has exceeded most expectations. On the external front, undoubtedly the increase in wholesale energy prices and the disruptions in the global supply are having a real impact on the ground.

Of course, people are not that concerned about the reasons. They just know it is hurting them, it is affecting them, and they want to know what we are doing about it. We do note that the most recent data from the Central Statistics Office, CSO, show a moderation in January in the harmonised index of consumer prices, down from 5.7% to 5%. We cannot take too much comfort from that. It is a slight easing and we do not know yet whether that is going to be part of an improvement in the underlying trend or whether it is a one-off. Time will tell in relation to that.

That is why the Government has acted. That is why we acted in the budget last October, when we had an income tax package of more than half a billion euro in respect of reductions in income tax, the burden of which falls on low-income people and on middle-income people. The Sinn Féin proposal in respect of income tax was to increase it by €800 million in the last budget. This Government reduced it by half a billion euro. That is €1.3 billion of a difference in our income tax proposals in the previous budget alone. In addition, we had a social welfare package in the previous budget of more than half a billion euro, much of which was targeted: at the working family payment, the qualified child payment and the living alone allowance, for example - three payments that are generally accepted as being among the most effective tools any government has to tackle the poverty issues that are undoubtedly there. Of course, it was also coupled with increases in the core rates. We acknowledge there is a challenge with fuel prices. That is why we increased the fuel allowance in the budget by €5 immediately on budget night last year. The Sinn Féin proposal was not to increase the fuel allowance at all in the budget last October. That is a fact.

Now, of course, we have gone much further. In recent weeks, we have come forward with a package of more than half a billion euro. Some measures are targeted and some are universal. The targeted measures will include the €125 once-off payment to people on the fuel allowance. Almost 400,000 households will get that payment in the next three weeks. By mid-March, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, plans to have that payment transferred to the people who need it most. A number of the measures we introduced in the budget last October have yet to kick in and these will also help many families, particularly working families and middle-income families, who also are feeling the pressure. In autumn, for example, the improvement in the SUSI grant will come in. There is the improvement in the means test and the qualifying threshold for the student support scheme. The extension of the universal childcare subsidy in relation to older children will also kick in in autumn of this year. The extension by two weeks of parents' benefit will kick in in July. In addition, a number of the other social welfare measures, such as the improvement in the means test for carers, for example, will also come into effect in June.

I represent ordinary people. I get elected by ordinary people. This Government represents ordinary people. We are listening to them. That is why we have responded in the best way we can so far with a set of universal measures but also a set of targeted measures, including those introduced outside of the annual budget. That has just been done, as the Deputy is aware.

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