Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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99. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will outline the cost-of-living supports announced last week; the estimated number of people who will benefit from these supports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10402/23]

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I ask the Minister to outline how many people will benefit from the cost-of-living supports announced last week and to make a statement on the matter.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. In recognition of the effect that high energy prices and the cost of living are having on families, businesses and the most vulnerable, the Government last week announced a package of measures amounting to almost €1.3 billion, almost €500 million of which relates to expenditure measures to help people on fixed incomes like pensioners and social protection recipients, including carers and people with disabilities.

The package provides a €200 lump sum for long-term social welfare recipients, which refers to lone parents, low-income families, carers, those on disability payments and pensioners. The measures also provide targeted support to families with children through a one-off lump sum of €100 in child benefit per child and a one-off €100 increase in the back to school clothing and footwear allowance. Additionally, this package provides reduced charges for school transport, waives the fees for those sitting the junior and leaving certificate and extends the hot school meals programme to all DEIS primary schools.

These measures have to be seen in light of the broader measures announced in the budget last year and ongoing measures that remain in place. They include the €200 lump sum I referred to, which will be paid in April, and many changes that will happen and will be permanent. Changes have been made to tax bands to ensure anybody earning €40,000 per year no longer pays the higher rate of income tax. Changes are being made in childcare fees aiming to put in place reductions of up to a quarter for families dealing with the high cost of childcare. Changes have been made to the eligibility for fuel allowance. Core social welfare rates have been increased.

While, understandably, the focus of the Dáil is on the temporary and one-off measures raised last week, those measures I referred to are permanent and we aim to build on them in the budgets ahead. All are designed to help with the rising cost of living, which we know is making a big difference to the living standards of families and citizens.

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister. Last week's announcement is welcome, especially for older people. I am concerned that, while he has agreed to extend the VAT reduction from 13.5% to 9% until 31 October, we are hearing of many retired people receiving electricity bills in excess of €1,000. Electric Ireland, for instance, is passing on a reduction to the commercial sector but is not dealing with private individuals as regards reductions. Has the Department had any engagement with the utility suppliers on passing on reductions? The cost of oil and gas is coming down but they are not passing it on to householders. Will this be taken up with them?

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I reiterate what the Taoiseach has said on the matter. I understand changes in energy markets are passed through at different speeds to different kinds of customers. Businesses experienced sharp increases in electricity bills before households. I know one energy provider put the cost of energy up in January. I understand that just as the bills went up quicker for some customers, they will also go down quicker.

For households generally, as the Taoiseach has said and I have said on a number of occasions, we expect that as improvements happen in the cost of sourcing energy into our country, it will feed through into an improvement in the affordability of energy for households. It cannot take months for the price of bills to go up and years for the price to go down if we are seeing stability or improvement in the affordability of energy to the companies who supply it to Ireland. We will monitor the situation closely. We have had, through the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, engagement with energy companies across the end of last year and will see whether further engagement is needed and whether steps such as a windfall tax can play a role in dealing with a higher level of profit, if that becomes apparent.

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Can a time period be set within which those reductions can be seen? Will they be seen within three months for homeowners and people on small incomes? It is important to work on that over the next three months.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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We will work on this in the weeks and months ahead. I do not feel I can put a timeframe on when we expect bills to come down. It is not my role to do so. I re-emphasise the expectation we have that, given the vast amount of our country’s money the Government has spent - €9 billion since January 2022 - to help with the rising cost of living, which for much of its duration was driven by energy costs, it is vital that if and when we see improvement in the cost of energy to companies supplying Ireland, it is passed on as soon as possible to hard-pressed households and businesses, who are struggling with rising costs and turning, understandably, to the Government for further help.