I, too, very much welcome the German ambassador, H.E. David Gill. As I was walking in, he was talking about St. Kilian. St. Kilian is very much associated with Mullagh, in County Cavan, and there have been trips by Cavan County Council to Germany and vice versa to celebrate the memory of St. Kilian.

Today, I would like to talk about ALONE. I attended a presentation by ALONE in Buswells yesterday, as I am sure many of us did. It has a number of very important requests for this budget, which I know is probably already decided at this stage. One of the situations it talked about was how if a couple were both receiving a pension and then one sadly passed away, the income was halved but the bills were not. There would still be a similar heating bill, electricity bill and so on, and it could become extremely hard for that person to manage on their own. ALONE is calling for the living alone allowance to be increased because it has not been increased in quite some time. It has requests regarding some of the other benefits as well, such as the telephone support allowance, which still relates to a landline. Most households do not have a landline now. ALONE says that the allowance should be broadened out into a communications allowance. It is talking about having a technology package for older people. One of my sons, when he was in transition year, TY, did a project where he showed older people how to use technology. It went really well, and my younger son is about to do the same. He is in TY now and is looking forward to it. The older people really enjoyed that and were well able to use the technology once they were shown. I get my sons to show me things that I still do not know or understand.

We also need a national plan for loneliness. That was one of the matters ALONE brought up. According to a European Commission Joint Research Centre study, Ireland is the loneliest nation in Europe, with over 20% of respondents saying they are lonely. We are not just talking about older people here, but all age groups. I think a national plan on loneliness would be really important to address that.

The other issue I want to raise today is the social housing income thresholds in Cavan. They are still extremely low. The threshold is only €30,000. I am witnessing families being evicted from their private rented accommodation. They are earning over €30,000, which is not hard to do in this day and age, so they do not qualify for social housing or any of the supports associated with it. For example, you go across the border into Meath and the threshold is much higher, yet the rent is similar. The rent has increased hugely in Cavan. People are in dire straits at the moment. There is very little available to rent, but what is available is extremely expensive and, as I said, most of these people do not qualify. I ask that the thresholds be reviewed and increased, and not just in Cavan. A number of other counties are on a similar level. There are three different levels, and €30,000 is far too low.