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

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. As Minister for Social Protection, I am fully committed to making the case for a fair budget that protects the people most in need in our society, particularly families on low incomes and those people, including pensioners and carers, who are dependent on social welfare payments. As part of budget 2024, I secured a €2.3 billion social protection package. This was, for the second year in a row, the largest in the history of the State. This package provided a mixture of lump sum cost-of-living payments, along with an across-the-board weekly rate increase of €12 in primary payments. Independent, post-budget analysis from the ESRI also showed that in the context of the budget package, the combination of basic rate increases with some lump sum payments was more effective than a simple price-indexed increase. I am therefore satisfied that this budget protected the most vulnerable in our society, particularly children in low-income families.

The CSO's 2023 survey on income and living conditions, SILC, published recently, shows that the at-risk of poverty rate in 2023 was 10.6%. This represented a very welcome reduction of almost 2% on the previous year's figure of 12.5%, reflecting the strong impact of measures we have taken in recent budgets, including the cost-of-living supports, in protecting the most vulnerable from the risk of poverty arising from inflation. Notably, the benchmark consistent poverty rate of 3.6% is at its lowest level since records were first compiled in 2004 and is nearly two full percentage points, or 35%, lower than when this Government came into power.

In early July, I will meet with many stakeholders at our annual pre-budget forum with a view to continuing this progress. I will listen to the views expressed on their priorities in the forthcoming budget. In recent years, this has been a key input to my thinking on budget formulation and the measures that I will bring forward for consideration by the Government. I can assure the Deputies that I, and the Government, will not be found wanting in providing support to those in our society who need it most.

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