Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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14. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her views on whether weekly social protection rates should be treated equally in terms of increases in Budget 2025; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37526/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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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 protection payments. No decisions have been made in terms of the composition of next year's Budget.

As part of Budget 2024, I secured a €2.3 billion Social Protection package. This was, for the second consecutive year, the largest in the history of the State.

Our social protection system provides a range of targeted supports, such as the Living Alone Allowance, Adult & Child Dependent Allowances and Fuel Allowance, which are provided to people dependent on their particular circumstances and needs. Therefore, tailored targeted support is a feature of our social protection system.

This tailored approach is backed up by empirical research on the Minimum Essential Standard of Living (MESL) published by the Vincentian MESL Research Centre, which measures costs for a range of people, based against the individual needs of their particular household types.

In early July, I met with many stakeholders at our annual pre-budget forum with a view to continuing this progress. I listened to their views on the priorities for the forthcoming budget. In recent years, the pre-budget forum has been a key input to my thinking on Budget formulation and the measures that I will bring forward for consideration of Government.

Decisions about Budget 2025 will be made in the coming weeks and Government will continue to prioritise evidence-based measures aimed at supporting the most vulnerable in our society. As I have already stated, I am fully committed to making a strong case for a fair budget that protects the people most in need in our society. However, any changes to weekly social protection rates would have to be considered in the overall policy and budgetary context.