Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We have to put this in perspective. We had a pandemic and we spent €9 billion on the PUP. In October, we introduced the largest social welfare budget in 14 years and in the last few weeks we have announced another €1 billion to assist with energy costs. We would all like to do more but the reality is that resources are finite. In fairness, when all the measures I outlined are counted up, compared to last year we have increased the fuel allowance by 60%.

We will keep all these things under review but it is a difficult time for everybody and I understand that.

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