Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. The cost of living is a matter that concerns huge numbers of individuals, families and businesses across the country. It is very much the issue that is coming up on the doors for our public representatives as well, when we are knocking on doors and speaking to people, and not other matters. I have to say that I agree with Deputy McDonald's assessment. A lot of people, families and businesses are struggling with the cost of living. Tá go leor daoine faoi bhrú. Tá an costas maireachtála an-ard agus cabhróidh an Rialtas.

Incomes are rising in Ireland but the cost of living is rising faster. What that means in real terms is that a lot of people, if not most people, are worse off this year than they were last year. We are seeing inflation slowing. Inflation is not as high as it was a few months ago but there is a big difference between inflation slowing down and prices going down. It is just that prices are going up less fast than they were earlier but that is not a good situation to be in. Prices are continuing to rise, notwithstanding the fact that inflation is not rising as fast as it was before.

As I mentioned, the Government is here to help and wants to help. We can do so because our economy is strong, because of the economic policies pursued by this Government in recent years and also because our public finances are in good order because of the good work done by the Ministers for Public Expenditure and Reform, and Finance, Deputies Donohoe and Michael McGrath, in particular, in recent years. What have we done in the past three weeks? We have significantly reduced the cost of childcare, by around 25%, which has helped a lot of families. We have increased the pension by €12 per week. In fact, all weekly welfare payments have been increased by €12. Approximately 70,000 elderly people now qualify for the fuel allowance who did not qualify last year. Those applications are still coming in and I encourage people to apply. Income taxes have gone down and people will see that in their pay slips this month, if they have not already. The rent tax credit is now available to hundreds of thousands of renters, at €500 per renter, per taxpayer, or €1,000 per couple. If three people are renting together, they each get the €500 credit. A lot of people have not yet applied for that and I really encourage them to do so. All of these measures are permanent and do not end at the end of February.

I have just given the Deputy an example of five things that the Government has done just in the past three weeks to help people with the cost of living, which are permanent and which do not expire at the end of February.

I want to make that clear. The Deputy is correct to say that at the end of February a number of measures will expire. I have said, as has the Tánaiste, that there will not be a cliff edge in that regard. We will not be able to continue everything as we just do not have the resources to do so, but there will not be a cliff edge. What will happen in the coming weeks is the relevant Ministers will sit down with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and the Minister for Finance and we will work out which measures we can continue and which ones we cannot. We will try to do that as quickly as possible, in the next couple of weeks, so that people have certainty long before the end of February. That is the work we are doing at the moment.

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