Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We will continue to assist households in dealing with the cost of living where it is possible to do so. It is imperative that policies are designed in a manner that does not increase inflation. Putting more Government and taxpayer money into the economy to try to counteract the effects every time there is an increase in inflation rates would add to the inflationary pressure. Budgetary policy must be carefully crafted to avoid becoming a part of the very problem we are trying to address.

The pandemic continued into this year. Some €7 billion was ear-marked for issues relating to Covid-19 this year. More than €3 billion of that was allocated and a further €4 billion remains unallocated and is in the contingency fund. There are ongoing costs relating to Covid so we cannot dip into that fund at this point because we do not know what will happen with the virus in the next six to eight months. We hope we will not need to fund a further response. Some of that money may have to be used because of the extra costs caused by the Putin war, including in dealing with the 35,000 Ukrainian refugees. None of us can dispute that if we have money to spare, we must look after families who are fleeing a war-torn economy. Nonetheless, we have put €2.5 billion into the Irish economy this year.

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