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

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. It is fair to say that the rising cost of living is biting hard. It is affecting many people and families who are struggling to make ends meet, notwithstanding the help that has come from the Government in recent months. Inflation is slowing down and it is good to see that prices are not rising as fast as they were a few months ago, but they are still rising. That means that people are continuing to get worse off if their incomes do not rise as fast as prices are rising. We acknowledge that. It is important to say that a number of actions were taken in the past few weeks to bring down the cost of living for people which are permanent. They include the reduction in the cost of childcare, the rent credit which people can now claim back in rent payments, of €500 or €1,000 for a couple, the increase in the pension of €12 a week and the increase of €12 a week in all weekly welfare payments. Those are all permanent changes. Tens of thousands more pensioners now qualify for the fuel allowance. Income taxes are going down, which people will see in their payslips this month. There has been an increase in the national minimum wage. Most people on low pay have seen a knock-on increase, which has been broadly in line with inflation. As well as that, another energy credit of €200 per household is due in March. Many things are being done by the Government to help people with the cost of living.

As the Tánaiste and I have said, there will not be a cliff edge at the end of February. A number of measures that were due to end at the end of February are now under review. We acknowledge that we will need to do something to help people with the rising cost of living throughout the spring. We have not made any firm decisions on that. The key Ministers involved will sit down next week to look at options with a view to making an announcement by the middle of the month so that people have certainty going into March.

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