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

Many commentators predicted a tsunami of redundancies and business failures but that has not happened. Instead, we have more than two and a half million people at work - the highest level of employment in the history of the State. At the same time, the number of people on the live register is now at its lowest level for many years. There are a significant number of job opportunities across all sectors at the moment. As Minister, through our Pathways to Work strategy, my Department, along with the Department of the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, is focused on providing education and training supports in order that people who are currently unemployed have the skills and, most important, the confidence to take on those job opportunities. The one thing on which everybody in this House can agree is that the best way to help a person out of poverty is to help him or her into quality employment.

Equally, all present recognise that it is those on fixed or low incomes who are hit first when it comes to rising food or electricity costs. That is why, last year, I introduced the largest social welfare budget package for 14 years. It is why the Government has continued to respond swiftly as circumstances have changed, with a wide range of further measures to assist with the cost of living. These include the €200 energy credit for all households, two additional lump sum payments of €125 and €100 for those on fuel allowance, cutting the excise rates on petrol and diesel, cutting the VAT on gas and electricity, reducing public transport fares by 20% and extending the 9% VAT rate for the hospitality sector. Those are just a few examples of the recent interventions by the Government to help people with rising costs.

The motion also highlights a range of measures the State has introduced in recent years to help the squeezed middle. These include measures such as free GP care for all children under six, a new universal childcare subsidy and the extension of invalidity benefit and jobseeker's benefit to the self-employed. In the budget last year, we also brought in changes to income tax to help middle-income earners. By increasing the standard rate cut-off point, any couple each of whom earn €45,000 benefited by €830. As was highlighted during the public hearings of the Committee on Budgetary Oversight on the subject earlier this year, adjusting bands and credits upwards, especially in a time of high inflation, is a move to try to maintain the value of take-home pay for all taxpayers.

As the motion notes, the price of renting continues to rise. I acknowledge that the Government needs to do much more in the area of affordable housing.

There is a limit to what the Government can do to offset rising energy costs. We can take steps to reduce the burden but we cannot absorb it in its entirety. Acting to protect households from the most severe impacts of the pandemic and from rising inflation has been both necessary and appropriate. These interventions have come at a significant cost, however, and that cannot be ignored. Immediately before the pandemic, our public finances were on a solid footing. We managed to introduce universal benefits such as those to which I referred, as well as increased pension and core welfare payments. That meant that when the pandemic hit, the Government could respond in a positive and counter-cyclical manner to limit the fall-out.

The reality of being in government is that one has to deal with hard choices. We cannot always do everything we want to do. It is becoming clear to us that the era of free money is over. Borrowing costs are rising, having risen by two percentage points since the beginning of the year. In order to limit the exposure of the public finances to rising borrowing costs, the Government has to take account of that and target a low level of borrowing. This underlines the valid point made in the motion that we must respond to inflation in a strategic way, not a piecemeal one.

Almost every week, the Government responds to motions or calls in the Oireachtas for extra spending to respond to inflation and cost-of-living crisis. Those calls are understandable but I fear what would happen if the Government actually implemented everything that is being sought. Instead, what we need is a well thought-out cross-government and medium-term strategy to respond to inflation in a way that does not simply exacerbate the problem we are trying to fix.

As Minister for Social Protection, my priority will be to protect the most vulnerable people in the months and years ahead. In July, I will host my Department's pre-budget forum. It will be an opportunity to engage with all the different stakeholders and representative groups, such as carers, disability groups, representatives of lone parents and so on. I will be engaging with everybody and listening to all the views at that forum and that will help inform our thinking in a strategic way ahead of the budget.

We need strategic interventions across government as part of the budget. That means a tax and welfare package, measures to reduce the cost of childcare, and looking at other ways we can put money back in people's pockets to help make their lives a little bit easier. Members can be assured of my commitment to do just that.

I thank Senators for the opportunity to speak this evening and I look forward to listening to their contributions.