Cost of living supports
Richard Boyd Barrett argues the Government has failed to tackle poverty, food banks, energy arrears and homelessness with strong measures like rent controls and ending evictions. The Taoiseach lists extensive supports already delivered and says Ministers will meet again to consider further action.
In one of the richest countries in the world we now have tens of thousands - if not hundreds of thousands - of people dependent on food banks for food.
Hundreds of thousands of people are now in arrears with their energy and utility bills. Some 12,000 people are officially homeless in emergency accommodation, but actually the numbers are multiples of that. I believe the Government's economic subcommittee is meeting this Thursday to discuss possible measures to address all of this. I put it to the Taoiseach that the Government has been fiddling around the edges and has been totally ineffective in preventing the cruel hardship and the drive into poverty and homelessness for tens of thousands of people. We need dramatic emergency measures to address the cost-of-living housing crisis, such as increasing pensions, welfare and wages at least to the level of inflation-----
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-----introducing rent controls and, crucially, stopping evictions into homelessness.
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I do not think that is a fair characterisation. There has been a very strong and meaningful response from the Government to help people with the rising cost of living. There was the auto-double payment of social welfare and pensions; a double payment of child benefit; a €400 fuel allowance; a €500 working family payment; €500 for people with disabilities, blind people and those on the invalidity pension; €200 for those on the living alone allowance; €500 to carers; a Christmas bonus; a €12 increase in weekly payments that kicked in recently; the largest increase in weekly payments-----
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Why are they going to food banks if they are all doing so well?
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-----since the mid-2000s; the largest ever expansion of the fuel allowance scheme; increased thresholds for the working family payment; a major expansion of the hot meals schools programme; an increase in the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance; two fuel allowance lump sums; universal energy credits of €600 for every household; a reduction in student fees; a 25% reduction in childcare costs; a 20% reduction in public transport fees; a reduction in the drug payment scheme for medicine costs; reductions in VAT; and reductions in excise. We will meet later in the week to see what else we can do to help.