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

I thank the Deputy. Just today, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Heather Humphreys, and I announced the details of the four lump-sum payments to be made this week, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. These payments are: the fuel allowance lump sum; the disability grant lump sum; the living-alone allowance lump sum; and the payment to low-income working families in the form of the working-family payment. Throughout next year, starting on 1 January, we will see the implementation of a range of other budgetary measures designed to ease the cost-of-living pressures we know many households are facing, including the changes to core weekly social welfare rates, the easing of the eligibility threshold and qualifying criteria for the fuel allowance, to give just a few examples in the area of social welfare, and also income tax changes. We will consider the point the Deputy has made on solar energy and what more we can do as a Government to incentivise investment in that source of renewable energy.

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