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

I thank all the Deputies who have contributed to the debate. It is fair to say that whether one is a pensioner, a carer, a person with a disability or a working family, the measures in this budget were designed to reach the people who need it most. This year's budget represents the largest social welfare package in the history of the State. Many of the social protection measures announced on budget day do not require primary legislation and therefore, are not reflected in this Bill. This includes the ten lump-sum payments the Government is providing, at a cost of €1.4 billion, to assist people with the cost-of-living pressures they are facing. As people might be wondering what these are, I will list them to allow people to be aware of them.

A doubling of child benefit in November and December will support 678,000 families in respect of more than 1.2 million children. An October double payment will benefit some 1.4 million people. A support grant of €400 will be paid next month to people with disabilities and to carers. Also secured as part of the budget was a €300 fuel allowance lump sum payment, which will be paid on the week commencing 4 November, to more than 387,000 households. During the same week, a €400 lump sum working family payment will be paid to some 46,000 households. There will also be a €200 lump sum payment in November to the almost 254,000 people in receipt of the living alone allowance. There will be a €100 child support payment, formerly known as the increase for a qualified child payment. This will be paid in the week commencing 25 November and will support 340,000 children. Finally, the Christmas bonus will be paid in the week commencing 2 December. This will be paid on the same basis as last year.

Other measures announced by the Government on budget day that do not require primary legislation include the age criteria for the more generous fuel allowance means test being reduced from 70 years of age to 66. The free travel companion pass will be made available to Irish residents over the age of 70. When someone wants to go somewhere, you can bring whosoever you want with you. This measure combats isolation and encourages people to get on the bus and to get out and about.

The disregard for means assessment purposes will be increased for the sale of a primary residence to allow non-contributory State pension and disability allowance recipients to move to more suitable accommodation. This means that if a recipient has to sell his or her house to move in with a family member, or into a nursing home, they will be able to continue to receive the relevant social welfare payment.

The weekly rates for participants in the work placement experience programme will be increased by €24. This valuable scheme increases the employability of long-term jobseekers. The earnings disregard is to be increased for carer's allowance by €175 for a single person and €350 for a couple. This means that the household income of a couple where one is a carer can be €65,000 and they can still qualify for the maximum carer's allowance. In fact, the income can go up to €90,000 before the payment is cut off completely, because it reduces on a sliding scale up to an income of €90,000.

Carer's allowance is now a qualifying payment for the fuel allowance purposes. The carer's benefit will now be extended to the self employed. If someone is self-employed and has to take time off to look after a loved one, he or she will now qualify for carer's benefit.

Finally, one that everyone knows to be close to my heart is the hot school meals programme. This will be extended to the remaining 1,000 primary schools that are not in the scheme. Along with this, a holiday hunger scheme is to be piloted next summer.

There are a few questions that I want to answer. According to the CSO analysis, the consistent poverty measures reduce consistent poverty and the number of people at risk of poverty. Consistent poverty as measured by the latest survey on income and living conditions, SILC, is at its lowest ever level at 3.6%. The at-risk-of-poverty level would have been at 13% without the one-off measures but with these, it is down to 10.6%

Child poverty was referred to. The €12 increase in the weekly rate of child benefit will address some of these issues. There is an increase of €4 in the child support payment for children under 12 years of age and €8 for those over 12. This is the highest rate this payment has been at.

There is an increase of €60 in the working family payment in budget 2025. The cost of living measures, the October and Christmas bonus of €100 per child, the €400 working family payment lump sum, the extension of the hot schools meals programme and the free school books programme are all addressing child poverty. Income supports and access to basic, essential services such as housing, health and education are also key in addressing poverty and social exclusion. The most recent SILC data shows that the national rate of child poverty - which is based on consistent poverty - decreased significantly, from 7% in 2022 to 4.8% in 2023.

Many references were made to the carer's allowance and the means test. The means test has been increased again. It kicks in from next July. All budget measures have been given specific dates to enable their implementation from a process and a systems perspective and in light of the available budget 2025 envelope. Adjusting means thresholds is more complicated than increasing payment rates as it requires individual claim reviews and adjustment of claims in payment. For that reason, changes to means thresholds that are announced at budget day usually take place mid-year. It was only last July that we increased the carer's allowance weekly income disregard. At present, it has been €450 for a single person and €900 for a couple from June 2024. That is going to change from next year. Individual claim reviews and subsequent of claims in payment do require a lead-in time. The Department needs this lead-in time to undertake these reviews of means and to contact people whose payment might be affected, to give them the opportunity to update the means data the Department has for them.

I also speak to carers a lot. I spoke to Family Carers Ireland and a number of other carers' organisations. They welcomed the benefits we have introduced in the budget. I will give an example. Orla has two children, aged 13 and 8 and is a carer for one of them. She will benefit from a number of increases in this budget. Her total post-budget 2025 increase will be €2,906 per annum. That will help Orla and I know it will make a difference to the support she receives.

There were a lot of questions raised and I am not going to get to them all. Businesses were mentioned. The Government has put a lot of focus on businesses in the budget. The retail and hospitality sectors will receive a €4,000 energy grant by Christmas, to cover the cost of higher energy bills. There will be significant tax changes that will help small businesses and the self-employed. These include changing the VAT thresholds to allow small businesses and the self-employed keep more of their own money. There will be changes to the self-employed earned income tax credit to allow them keep more of their hard-earned money. There will be changes to the capital gains tax retirement relief to help families transfer a business to the next generation.

There are a lot of supports for business. We will continue to support businesses. I have covered a good few of the questions that were raised with me. Deputy Paul Murphy has gone. That is a pity because I was going to ask him where is the money tree that is going to fund all the proposals he listed out. I would love to know where it is because I could do with it.

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