Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

The Government has been found wanting. More people are at risk of poverty, using food banks and in deprivation. That is the consequence of the Government's decision to increase social welfare rates and so on by less than the rate of inflation, along with lots of other decisions it has made. The Minister referred to the increase of €12, or 5.7%, in the latest budget. Inflation last year was 8.1% and it was running at 6.6% to May this year. As the Minister will undoubtedly know, the real rate of inflation for the poorer sections of society is actually significantly higher than that because they spend a much higher proportion of their income on groceries for which the rate of inflation is higher. For example, the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice estimates that the increase in the minimum essential standard of living in 2023 will be 10%. Those are the kinds of increases we need if we do not want to push people even further into poverty.

See this speech in context