Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As I have said, the Government has responded. There seems to be a complete brushing aside of the fact that €2.5 billion has been allocated to cost-of-living measures. We are going to do more but we will do it in a comprehensive way, embracing pay. In the private sector, the latest Central Statistics Office, CSO, data on wages are showing that the average weekly earnings in the first quarter of 2022 were up 10% from the same period two years ago, the first quarter of 2020. The public service pay talks have adjourned but it is the wish of all to see if we can work out a resolution of that on the public service pay front. We also need to work out matters expenditure-wise Department by Department. That is the ideal way to approach. We cannot create inflation in our response. This is different from the pandemic in respect of the nature of our response. This is not an issue where we can put €10 billion on the table straightaway over a period of time because that would obviously be very inflationary. We have to introduce targeted and temporary measures. That is what the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, and others are saying. We will evaluate those reports to see what is the best way to target resources to reduce pressures on people. However, we will do this in a way that also facilitates better policy in terms of public transport, for example, and healthcare costs. We have brought healthcare costs down now. The drug payment scheme threshold is down to €80, which is beyond what was recommended in Sláintecare, and legislation is coming in today to abolish inpatient charges.

In a systemic way, can we reduce costs for people in their everyday lives, not just now but for the period right throughout the next winter and beyond into 2023?

This would dovetail with sensible policies. There will be a package at budget time that will impact in this calendar year on the pressures people face in respect of the cost of living. As the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has said, it has to be carefully balanced in terms of how the Government responds . It acknowledges the Government faces a very delicate balancing act in protecting the economy and poorer households from higher energy and food prices while avoiding adding to inflation through second-round effects. We want to avoid second-round effects. I have been saying this consistently from the get-go. That is what happened in the 1970s. We ended up with spiralling inflation that got worse and worse every year. We need to avoid this. We need to target our measures. We must make sure those on the lowest incomes are well protected. There are also workers who are in difficult positions after tax because of this crisis.

We have to have measures that can marry. If we want to do something significant on childcare, for example, we cannot do packages in isolation month to month. We need to deal with what expenditure will be allocated to the Department with responsibility for children next year, for example, to enable us to do something significant on childcare costs for people. These are the types of evidence-based approaches we require and in social dialogue with the partners to work that out.

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