Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

-----and from other organisations as well.

I welcome the steps that have been taken. They will undoubtedly help those on the lowest incomes, but there are many people who will not benefit. As I said, people will watch the news tonight who will say these measures are good and will wonder what they will get out of them. These people could be struggling on quite low incomes, but they will not benefit. A family with a combined household income of more than €620 per week, with one child in school, will not qualify. That is about €32,000 a year, which is not a big income. It is very far from a big income. These are exactly the kind of people who are trying to decide whether they can afford to go ahead with their holidays, whether they can afford the electricity bills that are coming down the line, and whether they will have to go to the credit union or a moneylender. These are all decisions families will have to make. It is not the case, unfortunately, that those people who hope to benefit from these measures will do so.

It does not require legislation to extend payments such as these. I welcome what has been brought forward today and I urge the Minister to implement it as soon as possible. I also acknowledge the area of free school meals, which we included in our pre-budget submissions. We want to eventually get to a place where every child gets a hot meal in school. That will take time. We need to start with Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools students, which we have advocated for a number of years. We looked for assistance for low- and middle-income earners, broadly. It is not about benefiting those on the very highest incomes who are in a certain position, but those who have a combined household income of €80,000 or less who would be in a position to benefit, and get some assistance, because many of them are under very severe pressure.

I urge the Minister to go from here and implement what she has put forward today. We disagree with none of that, but she should build upon it. We do not need to pass legislation. The Minister can, over the course of the next week or two, sit down with the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and whoever else, to agree a formula to extend the back to education allowance to those who do not qualify for it. They need assistance. Just because they fall above the threshold does not mean they will not ring St. Vincent de Paul or organisations like it. That does not mean that at all.

We have outlined a particular proposal. Even if the Minister does not go as far as we have outlined, I ask her to do something for those people. I ask her to please invest some time to build on what has happened today and ensure that people who have missed out can stand to benefit by some amount. Otherwise, they will be under severe pressure. We will still be talking about this over the course of the summer months unless those people get some assistance. I am not just talking about Sinn Féin but society as a whole. Those families will ring the Minister's constituency office, and those of the Minister of State, mine, and Deputies Carthy and Buckley. All of us will still get phone calls unless something is done to assist those people. That door is not closed. It should not be closed. I urge the Minister to first support our motion calling for these proposals, consider what we have brought forward and please implement something that goes some way to assist those people.

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