Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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9. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will increase social welfare rates in budget 2025 in order that no one is living below the poverty line; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25409/24]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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There is already hype in the media about the upcoming budget. It is being said that it will be one of the last acts of the Government, whether the general election will be this year or next year. The Government will have a surplus of €65 billion in the coming years. Can the Minister commit now to increasing social welfare rates so that nobody will be left living below the poverty line?

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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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.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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Unfortunately, the Minister and the Government have been found wanting. They have been found wanting for children in this country. The latest child poverty monitor report found that more than 250,000 children, or more than one in five children, in this State experienced enforced deprivation in 2023. The number of children experiencing enforced deprivation rose by almost 20% last year. The Government is responsible for that. The Minister spoke about the €12 a week increase, but it was just €4 a week for qualified children, which was nowhere near enough to offset the massive rise in the cost of living. These increases have, for example, seen grocery prices rise by about 20% in the last five years. There has also been a doubling of electricity prices in the two years to April 2023. Although the rate of increase of prices across the board has come down, prices themselves have not come down. They continue to rise and this is why we need substantial increases in payment rates to ensure that people will not be living below the poverty line.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Well, I will have to give the Deputy the facts again. Consistent poverty and at-risk poverty have fallen. The 2023 national consistent poverty rate is 3.6%. This equates to 185,385 people, down from 4.9% in 2022, and 4.2% in 2021. This is the lowest rate of consistent poverty recorded since the start of the SILC survey. It puts the Government on track to meet the ambitious target set out in the roadmap for social inclusion of 2%. In 2023, the at-risk rate of poverty was 10.6%. This equates to 545, 856 people. This is a decrease on the 2022 at-risk of poverty rate, which was 12.5%, and the 2021 rate, which was 11.8%.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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I do not know. Is the Minister saying it is okay?

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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No, I am not.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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Even according to the Minister's own figures, one in ten people in this country is at risk of poverty. I will give the Minister the child poverty monitor report figures again. More than one in five children experienced enforced deprivation in 2023, and that figure went up by over 30,000 children to 260,000 children last year. One in four households is in arrears on gas bills, while one in ten households is in arrears on electricity bills. There is a dire need for permanent increases in social welfare rates to compensate for the permanently increased cost of living. Once-off measures will simply not cut it. Social Justice Ireland last year advocated a minimum increase of €25 a week to do that, but, instead, the Government increased social welfare rates by less than half of that amount. What the Government does in the coming budget will tell a lot about its priorities.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Regarding these lump sum payments, when people have ESB and heating bills in the winter, people need the money in their pockets then. There is no point in increasing the weekly rate. We need to get the money to them then to pay the bills. It has actually been shown that these once-off, or lump sum, payments have been very effective in dealing with the increase in the cost of living that was experienced. The 2023 SILC showed that social transfers continued to perform well in reducing the at-risk of poverty rate from 34.1% before social transfers to 10.6% after social transfers. This equated to a poverty reduction effect of 68.9% in 2023.

What I am trying to say to the Deputy is that the figure is coming down and we will continue to work hard to bring it down further. This is something I have committed to doing in every single budget. Since I have come into this Department, I have increased the payments in every way that I have been able to so that people have been cushioned against the cost-of-living increases.