Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

I accept what the Minister is saying. However, we are in an unprecedented, once-off cost-of-living crisis. Inflation is up by 17.2% since January 2021. The consumer price index, CPI, for groceries is up at least 13.1% and may be up by as much as 17%. Electricity prices have risen 112% since 2020. The OECD has pointed to a sharp dip in living standards due to inflation. Fuel poverty is up 40%. Some 671,000 people in Ireland are living in poverty, of whom 188,500 are children. A total of 55,000 older people went into poverty last year.

I make the argument strongly that core payments are crucial. When people are in work, they base their mortgage repayments, electricity bills and everything else on their baseline wages. If they get overtime, it is a big boost. It is the same with social welfare payments. The Minister should listen to the people in the organisations with whom she is meeting. She should match payments to the cost of living. Anything else is a cut.

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