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

Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil an costas maireachtála fós an-ard agus go bhfuil brú ar theaghlaigh. Tá go leor teaghlach faoi bhrú. Tá gnóthaí faoi bhrú agus tá an Rialtas ag cabhrú. Tá béim mhór ar theaghlaigh le mac léinn ar scoil, ar ghnóthaí beaga agus ar dhaoine gan mórán, mar shampla, pinsinéirí. The Government decided earlier today to agree another cost-of-living package. We are experiencing a major cost-of-living crisis in Ireland and globally. Many people are struggling to make ends meet and businesses are grappling with rising costs. However, because of the strength of our economy and the health of our public finances, we have been able to respond dynamically to help people, families, businesses and farmers to manage rising costs.

Since the cost-of-living crisis began, we have taken 25 individual actions, many of which are permanent. These include higher pay and pensions and higher weekly welfare payments, which have only kicked in during the past few weeks. They also include lower income taxes for young workers, such as some of those the Deputy mentioned, and a rent tax credit, which was only introduced in the past few weeks, of €500 per renter if paying income tax. Approximately 170,000 people have availed of that credit and we are encouraging more to do so. We have also reduced the cost of childcare - something really important for young families - bringing it down by 25%, only in the past few weeks and we wish to go further.

We have reduced the cost of healthcare, of going to school, of public transport for young people and student fees. More students will become eligible for student grants as the year goes on. This is a more targeted package than has been the case previously, but there are universal measures as well. We decided to focus on families of school-age children, pensioners and people who are very vulnerable, such as those with disabilities, carers, lone parents and SMEs.

There will be an additional €100 payment in June for families with young children. The extra €100 relating to the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance will be repeated. Low-income working families in receipt of the working family payment will receive an extra €200, which will be important as a child poverty and welfare measure. We are waiving State examination fees again this year, and there will only be a modest charge for school transport. The latter will be very welcome in rural areas in particular. Pensioners and vulnerable people will get a €200 bonus payment in April. We are extending the free hot school meals scheme to all DEIS schools and special schools. The Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, will work on plans to extend the scheme beyond DEIS schools in 2024.

The Deputy mentioned a few issues, including those relating to rents and mortgage holders. It is important to say this was not a mini-budget. We did not plan it be such, but there is a rent tax credit. This was only introduced in the past couple of weeks and people are claiming it now. We think that in the region of 200,000 renters will benefit from this and we want more to avail of it. We already have rent pressure zones. The Deputy will know from the recent daft.iereport that for established renters, for people who are already renting, that is, the vast majority of renters, rents went up by approximately 3.6% last year. The real and major difficulty we have is with new properties coming on the market for the first time. That is where the Sinn Féin's proposed rent freeze would be of no benefit whatsoever. In the context of new properties coming on the market for the first time, rents are, if I recall correctly, rising by 13%. For established renters, there will be increases of 3% to 3.6% this year.

It is important to bear in mind that people who rent and those who have mortgages are also workers.

These people use petrol, diesel, electricity and gas. I was interested to hear Sinn Féin's finance spokesperson on the radio the other day stating that the party wants the VAT rate relating to hospitality to go back up right away, that it would only extend the excise reductions on petrol and diesel until May and that it would have VAT on electricity and gas go up in May as well. Anyone who drives a petrol or diesel car or who uses electricity or gas would face tax hikes under Sinn Féin within weeks. We have put them off until much later in the year.

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