In today's mini-budget, which is not a mini-budget, we will see a decision to bring forward more one-off payments. This is an admission that the Taoiseach and the Government got it wrong in budget 2023 and that wages and social welfare payments in particular are still too low. After these new one-off payments are made, the reality is that incomes will still be too low and will not keep pace with inflation and skyrocketing prices. We know 1 million people have fallen into poverty and one in five working people is officially low paid. We have heard about pensioners taking out credit union loans just to meet the cost of exorbitant energy bills. We know one-off payments cannot mitigate against the failure in the previous budget to increase sufficiently the minimum wage and minimum basic social protection rates, including pensions, carer's allowance and the fuel allowance.

Why will the Government not increase the minimum wage to at least €12 per hour in this mini-budget and why will it not increase social welfare rates by a further €8 per week, as per our calls and the calls of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Social Justice Ireland and others?

This was not a mini-budget or a budget, which is why we did not make changes to any weekly payments, although there are quite a number of once-offs. In regard to the national minimum wage, it went up by 7.8% this year and it looks like inflation this year will be lower than 7.8%. It is not the case that the minimum wage goes up faster than inflation every year but if we take the three-year view, the five-year view or the ten-year view, it has done so, and I think this year will see it go up faster than inflation. We increased the national minimum wage based on the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission, a body that was set up when Fine Gael and the Labour Party were together in government. I support that commission and have been happy to follow its recommendations down the years.