Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann:" and substitute the following: "acknowledges that this Government has, since its formation in 2020, provided unprecedented supports to protect people and families, first through the Covid-19 pandemic and now through the increase in the cost-of-living, including:

— a €9.2 billion Pandemic Unemployment Payment support scheme and a further €9.2 billion on Employment Wage Subsidy Schemes to protect workers and families during the Covid-19 pandemic;

— a €2.2 billion Social Protection package in Budget 2023 – the largest in the history of the State, including eight lump sum payments to a value of over €1.3 billion comprising:

— an Autumn double payment of weekly social welfare and Pension payments;

— a double payment of Child Benefit;

— a €400 lump sum payment of Fuel Allowance;

— a €500 lump sum payment to families receiving Working Family Payment (WFP);

— a €500 lump sum payment to people in receipt of Disability Allowance, Blind Pension or Invalidity Pension;

— a €200 lump sum payment to people in receipt of the Living Alone Allowance;

— a €500 lump sum payment to carers; and

— a Christmas Bonus double payment of weekly social welfare and Pension payments;

— a €12 increase in weekly social welfare and Pension rates from January 2023 – the largest increase to weekly payments since the mid-2000s;

— the largest ever expansion of the Fuel Allowance scheme with a particular focus on supporting older people over 70; and

— increased income thresholds for the WFP, so that more families can qualify;

notes that these Budget measures are in addition to previous measures introduced to assist people and families throughout 2022 with the cost-of-living, including:

— a major expansion of the hot School Meals Programme to 320 recently designated Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools facilities;

— a €100 increase in the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance;

— two Fuel Allowance lump sum payments of €125 in March 2022 and €100 in May 2022;

— a universal energy credit of €200 introduced in April 2022, followed by three further €200 energy credits, with the next credit due in people's bills in March and April this year;

— a reduction in student fees;

— a 20 per cent reduction in public transport fees;

— a reduction in costs of the Drug Payment Scheme; and

— reduced Value Added Tax and excise duties rates; and

further notes:

— the wide array of measures it introduced clearly demonstrate the huge focus the Government has placed on assisting ordinary people and families with the cost-of-living;

— the unprecedented lump sum supports provided immediate and timely support to pensioners, carers, people with disabilities, lone parents, jobseekers, working families on low-income and those living alone;

— analysis by the Economic and Social Research Institute shows that, combined with the increase in core social welfare payment rates, these lump sums effectively compensated lower income households for price increases and, in fact, were more effective than a price-index linked increase in core rates;

— that the money needed to fund these measures was available due to sound economic management by this Government which has contributed to historically low levels of unemployment; and

— that the Government has already clearly stated that it is keeping the cost-of-living situation under review and is currently considering what further measures may be required."

I welcome the opportunity this evening to discuss the important issue of the cost of living. At the outset I would like to make one important point: no party or person in this House has a monopoly on compassion. There has been a worldwide spike in inflation caused by the war in Ukraine and all of us recognise the very real challenges that people and families are facing. People's utility bills have gone up and the cost of the weekly shop has increased. It is not easy for people at the moment. We know that and it is why this Government has taken unprecedented steps to support our citizens.

To listen to the Deputies opposite, you would swear that we had not done a tap and that we had sat on our hands for the last two years and done nothing to help. The reality is since this Government was formed, it has, more than any government in the history of the State, put in place billions of euro in measures to protect and support our people. We did it during the pandemic. Some €18 billion was paid out through the pandemic unemployment payment and the wage subsidy scheme. That was €18 billion to support and protect ordinary workers and families. But Sinn Féin dismissed that, just like it dismissed all the other measures we have taken to help people with the cost of living: a €2.2 billion social protection package, the largest in the history of the State; a €12 increase in all weekly payments, the highest increase in payments since the mid-2000s; €1.3 billion in targeted lump-sum payments before Christmas to support our most vulnerable; a €500 working family payment; a €500 grant to support our carers; a €500 grant for people with disabilities; €200 for those living alone; a €400 payment for all those receiving fuel allowance; and double payments in the autumn and at Christmas for all pensioners, carers, lone parents and people with disabilities.

Lump-sum payments of that nature have never happened before and contrary to what Sinn Féin says, the independent analysis from the ESRI clearly shows that the approach taken by the Government means that low-income households are better off than if increases in core payments had simply matched inflation. Do not take my word for it. That is the independent analysis from the ESRI.

This Government moved at speed to issue those lump-sum payments throughout November and December yet Sinn Féin stands here tonight as if that €1.3 billion package of targeted measures to support our most vulnerable had never happened. Nor does it want to acknowledge the universal measures we have taken to support working families. Sinn Féin has no time for ordinary people who get up every day and go out and do a day's work.

See this speech in context