Cost-of-Living Supports: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members]
The following motion was moved by Deputy Pearse Doherty on Tuesday, 14 February 2023:
That Dáil Éireann:
acknowledges that:
— the cost-of-living crisis continues to put workers and families under significant financial pressure and there is a growing urgency to ensure supports are adequate, available, and accessible; and
— emergency action must be taken to give workers and families a much-needed break from the cost-of-living crisis;
notes with concern that:
— almost 595,000 people (11.6 per cent) in the State live on an income below the poverty line, with difficulties in making ends meet now a feature of the daytoday life for many households across different income distributions;
— a report launched by Barnados Ireland this month shows that food poverty is worsening, with 10 per cent of parents surveyed forced to use food banks in 2022 and 29 per cent reported skipping meals to ensure their children could eat;
— average gas bills have gone up by around 140 per cent over the past two years, while the average electricity bill has increased by around 115 per cent; and
— recent figures from the Economic and Social Research Institute estimate that the estimated share of households in energy poverty has increased to 29 per cent, a record high;
notes that:
— the most recent Budget, designed by then Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe TD, and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath TD, knowingly chose to not fully protect people on lower and fixed incomes from rising inflation and the growing cost-of-living pressures;
— Fine Gael Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphries TD, and Cabinet colleagues cut social welfare rates in real terms given the current rates of inflation; and
— this is further evidence that the Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party Government is out of touch with the struggles facing ordinary workers and families alike;
condemns their collective decisions which have forced large numbers of parents to skip meals so their children have enough to eat, and led to record numbers of families requiring support from voluntary organisations to provide food parcels and vouchers; and
calls on the Government to introduce the following measures as part of a broader suite of actions to support workers and families throughout 2023:
— commit to the payment of a "Spring Bonus" for those relying on working age social welfare payments, including pensioners, people with disabilities, carers and lone parents;
— extend the Fuel Allowance eligibility to Working Family Payment recipients, to reach families who are in work on low incomes;
— establish a discretionary fund to provide financial support to households experiencing severe utility debt; and
— ensure Community Welfare Officers are available in the community to provide urgent supports and in-person appointments.
Debate resumed on amendment No. 1:
To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann:" and substitute the following:
"acknowledges that this Government has, since its formation in 2020, provided unprecedented supports to protect people and families, first through the Covid-19 pandemic and now through the increase in the cost-of-living, including:
— a €9.2 billion Pandemic Unemployment Payment support scheme and a further €9.2 billion on Employment Wage Subsidy Schemes to protect workers and families during the Covid-19 pandemic;
— a €2.2 billion Social Protection package in Budget 2023 – the largest in the history of the State, including eight lump sum payments to a value of over €1.3 billion comprising:
— an Autumn double payment of weekly social welfare and Pension payments;
— a double payment of Child Benefit;
— a €400 lump sum payment of Fuel Allowance;
— a €500 lump sum payment to families receiving Working Family Payment (WFP);
— a €500 lump sum payment to people in receipt of Disability Allowance, Blind Pension or Invalidity Pension;
— a €200 lump sum payment to people in receipt of the Living Alone Allowance;
— a €500 lump sum payment to carers; and
— a Christmas Bonus double payment of weekly social welfare and Pension payments;
— a €12 increase in weekly social welfare and Pension rates from January 2023 – the largest increase to weekly payments since the mid-2000s;
— the largest ever expansion of the Fuel Allowance scheme with a particular focus on supporting older people over 70; and
— increased income thresholds for the WFP, so that more families can qualify;
notes that these Budget measures are in addition to previous measures introduced to assist people and families throughout 2022 with the cost-of-living, including:
— a major expansion of the hot School Meals Programme to 320 recently designated Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools facilities;
— a €100 increase in the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance;
— two Fuel Allowance lump sum payments of €125 in March 2022 and €100 in May 2022;
— a universal energy credit of €200 introduced in April 2022, followed by three further €200 energy credits, with the next credit due in people's bills in March and April this year;
— a reduction in student fees;
— a 20 per cent reduction in public transport fees;
— a reduction in costs of the Drug Payment Scheme; and
— reduced Value Added Tax and excise duties rates; and
further notes:
— the wide array of measures it introduced clearly demonstrate the huge focus the Government has placed on assisting ordinary people and families with the cost-of-living;
— the unprecedented lump sum supports provided immediate and timely support to pensioners, carers, people with disabilities, lone parents, jobseekers, working families on low-income and those living alone;
— analysis by the Economic and Social Research Institute shows that, combined with the increase in core social welfare payment rates, these lump sums effectively compensated lower income households for price increases and, in fact, were more effective than a price-index linked increase in core rates;
— that the money needed to fund these measures was available due to sound economic management by this Government which has contributed to historically low levels of unemployment; and
— that the Government has already clearly stated that it is keeping the cost-of-living situation under review and is currently considering what further measures may be required."
(Minister for Social Protection)
There is one part of the Minister's statement I agree with. I am glad she pointed out the notorious failure of the British state to look after the citizens of the North it has ruled for 100 years. The Minister makes a powerful case for a united Ireland.
Workers and families are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis, despite what the Minister said over the past ten minutes. I ask every Member to support the motion. There is no doubt people are struggling to pay their bills and are at the pin of their collar. There is no doubt we need a spring bonus for pensioners, workers, families, those on social welfare payments with disabilities, carers and lone parents. Our citizens are dealing with record fuel bills and rents. Some renters are paying 30%, 40% or 50% of their income. The Minister and I, as well as everybody else, know that is totally unsustainable.
Mortgage interest rates have increased for some people by more than 7% and the Government rejected a proposal from Sinn Féin last week to help them out. It chose not to fully protect people on lower and fixed incomes in the budget. Social welfare payments were cut in real terms due to inflation.
We can end poverty. It takes a political choice, one which this Government has so far failed to take. A study several years ago by the Irish Heart Foundation found poverty directly leads to early deaths. The evidence is overwhelming. Poverty and pressures on income lead to people making decisions on their healthcare, the healthcare of their children or their bills. They have to make decisions on whether to feed the family or go to the doctor. The working poor make that choice every day. People who get up to work every day make that choice.
A study in Dublin West in the Blakestown district electoral division, DED, which covers Ongar to Mulhuddart and Tyrrelstown, shows someone is three times more likely to die of cancer in that area than in the Castleknock area, and twice as likely to die of any other illness. I suspect those statistics have worsened in recent years.
It is about choices. The money is there. We expect another Exchequer surplus of more than €6 billion. Measures that would help people include a spring bonus for social welfare recipients, which Sinn Féin is calling for. It would cost €316 million. Despite the Minister's statement - she obviously did not read ours - a discretionary fund for households experiencing utility debt would cost €15 million. There are other things but I will leave it at that because I do not want to take time from my comrades.
I am happy to speak on the spring bonus proposal from An Teachta Doherty, which is a care package for people depending on social protection. “Social protection” are not dirty words. Our care package focuses on people in real need: families, lone parents, carers, people with disabilities. It is the opposite of the bonus arrangements and pamper packages the Government devises and delivers for bankers. The bankers Government Members should care about are the increased number of people visiting food banks.
In north Kildare, many people do not refer to the cost of living anymore; they call it the cost of surviving, especially where, in real terms, social protection rates are effectively cut because of inflation. With the cost of survival rocketing, it is clear people need a hand from the State but feel they are getting another wallop when their new gas bill has left them floored. Across north Kildare, people are struggling with costs and this is amplified if they are dependent on social protection. Across the State, almost 12% exist on incomes below the poverty line. Barnardos tell us what those of us who read our emails already know, which is that food poverty is getting worse and worse. Up to 30% of respondents in their survey skip meals so their children can eat.
There is something fundamentally wrong about this. The Government is perverse. We have to think about this. It is all of us. We represent the people out there. This is bad for Ireland and for society. As long as the Government’s voter cohort is still happy, its Members do not seem to care about people being excluded, marginalised and left behind.
I know a man living in a caravan backed into a turf shed. He lights his fire in a concrete block outside his caravan to keep warm. He is not in Kharkiv, Türkiye or Syria but in Ireland. We have no war or earthquake, just social and political fault lines where people are ignored, lectured to and diminished in the society the Government is creating: “Keep it up, lads. Keep marching and we’ll march all over you.” It is no way to live and no way to govern. Our spring bonus is essential at this stage and the Government should withdraw its amendment.
If anyone needed proof of how out of touch the Government is, they got it in spades this evening. I hope the Minister is proud of herself.
There has been a lot of speculation recently about the Government’s intentions regarding people struggling with the cost-of-living crisis. The Government has told homeowners they are on their own if they are struggling to pay their mortgage because it rejected Sinn Féin’s motion on mortgage interest relief. It tells renters that, while it recognises rents are too high, it refuses to implement our proposal to freeze rents and reduce costs to them through a refundable tax credit, which would put the equivalent of one month’s rent back into their pockets. While ordinary people are pushed to breaking point and beyond, the Minister and Government have been busy gaslighting them, drip-feeding and leaking bits of information about what they might or might not do to avoid the cliff edge they have created. At the same time, they tell them they have never had it so good.
Then the environment Minister is wagging his finger at people forced to live in energy poverty and warning them they will be weaned off supports they need to keep their homes warm. They are not bold children; they are families who need to keep their homes warm and elderly people forced to go to bed in the afternoon to stay warm. The cold spell is not over and that is why we are calling for an extension to the fuel allowance and a discretionary fund for those who do not qualify but will still struggle to keep themselves warm.
I have been in the Chamber many times while my colleague, An Teachta Kerrane, has raised the issue of community welfare officers with the Minister. The system in place is not working. When they were in the health centres and in the community, they were easily accessible. Now it is a 16-page form and week and weeks of waiting.
One of the Minister’s colleagues specialises in renaming government services that have failed. She did her magic with the Passport Office. She needs to get another campaign going to rename the emergency payment as a “wait until your emergency is a crisis” payment because people are left waiting weeks for it.
Two weeks to turn around.
I spoke to a young mother in my constituency last week. She lives in Swords and has a daughter who is autistic and needs supports. She has been forced to cancel the therapies she pays for privately for her child. She said to me - forgive my language, Leas-Cheann Comhairle – “I have been made to feel like a shit mother.” She is not a "shit mother". She is doing her damn best and the only thing she had left to cut were the therapies. They are gone now and her child will wait four years.
I presume the language was in inverted commas.
I apologise, Leas-Cheann Comhairle. It was a direct quote.
The cost-of-living crisis shows no sign of ending. That is a fact. I do not know what bubble the Minister is living in.
Most constituents who come to me say they are suffering at this stage. A report launched by Barnardos this month shows food poverty is worsening, with one in ten people surveyed forced to use food banks in 2022, while 29% reported skipping meals to ensure their children could eat. Those food banks are not only in Sinn Féin constituencies; they are right across the State. The Ministers should wake up to what is happening to people. People are going hungry under the Government but Ministers are living in a bubble and seem to think everything is fine.
Average gas bills have gone up by 140% over the past two years, while the average electricity bill has increased by 115%. I do not know what world the Minister is living in but I am getting calls every day from constituents who do not know how they will pay their energy bills, which have gone up by €300 and €400 in the past couple of years. People have been crying out for help and no one is listening.
Fine Gael was bragging on Twitter yesterday that Ireland has the fastest growing economy in the EU - woohoo.
Tell parents who cannot afford to feed their children or heat their homes that we have the fastest growing economy. People are starving in this country. What does that say about this Government? Tell that to parents who cannot afford to feed their children or heat their rooms. Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party are completely out of touch with the struggles facing ordinary workers and their families. The Government must commit to payment of a spring bonus for those relying on working-age social welfare payments, including pensioners, people with disabilities, carers and lone parents. They are the people who are impacted at the moment by all these large bills. The Minister needs to wake up and smell what is happening in our country.
Go raibh maith agat, an Teachta Crowe.
People are starving and the Minister is sitting there smirking in her corner.
I am not smirking. The Deputy should withdraw that comment.
You are smirking. Your speech was full of smirks.
You were smirking and looking down on people. That is all you are good at.
The Deputy should withdraw that comment. I was not.
You were smirking at my constituents-----
How dare you say that. I was not.
How dare he, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.
I apologise, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.
I never lose my temper in here but I am not going to listen to this nonsense coming from the Minister anymore.
I was not smirking, I can assure you.
We have an apology. We are going to move on to the Labour Party. I call Deputy Sherlock.
I support the motion. The Labour Party has been leading the way regarding what we perceive to be the reduction or diminution in community welfare officer services at the most local level for a long time now. While many people will easily interact with a freephone number and that will capture perhaps a new audience, many vulnerable people living in rural areas will not have the wherewithal to go to local Intreo offices.
I continue to make this case to the Minister and ask that this be looked at again. We need to bring the service to as many people as possible. We have all quoted countless examples to her of what we perceive to be a creeping centralisation of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. That scheme is enshrined in legislation for a reason, which is that it would allow for discretion on the part of the local community welfare officer. We feel there is a departmental policy now to try to squeeze that as much as possible.
The Minister will say an increase of approximately €17 million has been paid out in additional needs. I was never aware of such a specific scheme set out in statute called an additional needs scheme. I always understood it to be an exceptional needs payment and urgent needs payment scheme.
Notwithstanding the fact that an additional €17 million has been paid out, which is acknowledged, the number of recipients has gone up to 97,000. I believe strongly that is a suppressed demand. What I mean by this is that if more people knew the service existed, they would come in to avail of it. Many people still do not know the service exists. We have evidence that where people have tried to engage with the service, they have found it to be cumbersome and overly bureaucratic. That has been the experience in my constituency office. That should be made simpler and more seamless.
The Minister will say that people have the right to be visited in their homes and the right to engage on a face-to-face level. If there was more of that in the communities at the most rural and local level, and not necessarily housed in or funnelled through the Intreo offices, that would capture many more people in dire need at the moment.
I speak not just specifically for the people who would have been recipients on a repeated basis for such payments but the new working poor who are on fixed incomes and whose mortgages and fuel costs have increased. While they are on fixed incomes, they are not able to meet the additional needs in a house and additional expenses that arise. I ask the Minister and Government to take this into account when are considering any proposals. The word "wean" has been used in Government circles. The Government is talking about weaning people off cost-of-living measures in the coming weeks. I ask the Minister to examine the evidence base in the Government's own figures, which were supplied to me in response to a parliamentary question and show that 97,000 applicants availed of more than €58.2 million in additional or exceptional needs payments. The supplementary welfare allowance scheme is the jewel in the crown that ensures people do not fall below a certain floor and that protections are in place for the most vulnerable when they are needed. Thank goodness we live in this State and that we provide these when we consider other examples around the world where there are no such supports.
I believe strongly, though, that we have to consider the evidence that is coming forward to us from NGOs and voluntary bodies. Again, the evidence is coming from this House through testimonials by individual Deputies who report back to the Minister on cases with which we are dealing. We need to ensure there is a protection of basic social welfare payments. There is definitely a need to ensure there is an increase to meet the additional cost-of-living increases.
If we think about the fact that in 2022, €5.7 million was spent on clothing, €6.6 million on funeral costs, €1.8 million on household bills and more than €7.5 million on general expenses under these schemes, based on the criteria for paying somebody, there is a clear evidence base there that those schemes are vital and necessary. They need to continue and they cannot be cut back. This argument of weaning people off is a very unfortunate use of language by Government. It is very right wing and it demeans people. These are working people in the main who need these payments because they are on fixed incomes. I am not directing this at the Minister. Let me be very clear about that. This idea of tapering down payments at a time when there is clearly a cost-of-living crisis has been used in other Government circles, however. The evidence from the Minister's own figures, as supplied to us in replies to parliamentary questions, is that there is a clear need for these supplementary welfare allowance payments. There is a very clear evidence base for them to continue. I would hope that they will continue and that there will be no effort to wean people off.
I will return to what I perceive to be the creeping centralisation of services within the Department of Social Protection. I am not asking for the wheel to be reinvented. I am merely asking that the Minister go back to the well. The well spring was always a Department that went out to the people to provide the services to them. It formed relationships with people on the ground. Community welfare officers knew the person with whom they were dealing. They knew their context and were able to make decisions in a very quick time. If, for instance, I was advocating to a community welfare officer on behalf of a constituent, we had that relationship. Thankfully, in some parts of my constituency, we still have that relationship, and I am very grateful for it. We have excellent community welfare officers. If, for instance, a piece of documentation or evidence was missing that would meet the criteria to pay somebody, that could be easily sorted. The person could be put into payment quickly and then come back the next day with the document and everything would be sorted. Now, there are too many hurdles for the individual applicant to cross because the relationship between the applicant and the system has become disjointed in a way that the person to whom the application is made does not have that direct relationship. We need to go back to that. That should be an easy thing to do and resurrect. It is on that basis that we support the motion. However, we will continue to lobby for a proper fit-for-purpose community welfare officer system and supplementary welfare allowance system that does not take the service away in a qualitative sense from the client. This is a customer-facing Department and it must continue to be one.
I welcome the motion from Sinn Féin. It is of paramount importance that we address the cost-of-living crisis with urgency and action. I fear that the gravity of the term "cost of living" is being lost on members of the Government. Perhaps the Society of St. Vincent de Paul captured it better when it talked of the cost of survival, which is experienced in people's homes every single day. If the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, believes this is hyperbole on my part, she should look to the Barnardos report which suggests that 30% of parents in the State are going without food. That is an extraordinary indictment of a country, a State and a Government that is clapping its hands that this is the fastest growing economy in the European Union. All the while, 30% of parents are going without food. This is an emergency but it does not appear to be treated like one.
More than one in ten people in the State is living below the poverty line, of whom almost 164,000 are under the age of 18, yet the Government does not blink an eye when we say our country is in crisis. Some 690,000 individuals are experiencing deprivation, 200,000 of whom are children, but we sit idly by while families are suffering. We talk of looking after the pennies, while people struggle to put food on the table. The lack of Government action is a slap in the face for those who struggle every day to make ends meet. The average rent in Dublin is now €2,300 for the average person. That is an impossible cost to incur, never mind for the hundreds of thousands of people who are literally living in poverty. The Minister has allowed this to happen, and when the more than justified criticism of what I can only describe as the inept Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage arrives on the Government's doorstep, Government members will all band together in solidarity in the face of the ineptitude shown by the State.
Living in Dublin is now out of reach for countless workers, resulting in chronic staff shortages across a range of professions, including teaching and in the healthcare sector, to name a few. Students are suffering. Patients are suffering. Everyone is suffering the failed policies of successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments. Just over 1,000 homes were available to rent nationwide on 1 February, which is a 20% reduction on this time last year, yet the Government continues to lie through its teeth that everything is under control and it is all part of some greater plan. It is insulting.
The Housing for All targets are grossly inadequate, not to mention that they will inevitably be missed by quite a margin. The accelerated delivery of cost-rental homes is the only solution to this worsening crisis. This has been crystal clear for a long time but even that does not budge the Government. It would rather spite those struggling around the country by going down with the ship.
Before the Minister cites the Government's new vacant homes tax as some sort of titanic solution, everyone knows it is far too weak to act as a real disincentive to those sitting on empty homes. In our alternative budget for 2023, the Social Democrats called for this tax to be set at 10%, with a number of fair exemptions. This would send a clear message to those holding empty properties during a housing disaster to use it, rent it or sell it. We cannot separate the eviction ban from the cost-of-living crisis. The ban simply cannot end at the end of March. If it does, our already overrun homelessness services will be decimated. Those who are already in poverty will be pushed further into it. Hunger will become more extreme.
Sadly, housing is only one frontier of the emergency we find ourselves in. The motion highlights the many faces of the cost-of-living crisis. Food poverty is becoming widespread. Nearly 30% of parents are skipping meals just to feed their kids. Food banks are struggling to keep up with skyrocketing demand. Energy poverty has reached a record high and despite meagre initiatives designed to provide relief, families and small businesses continue to endure higher and higher costs that are crippling them. How do we tackle these debilitating conditions? In our alternative budget in September, the Social Democrats argued for the expansion of eligibility for the fuel allowance to recipients of the working family payment. We agree with Sinn Féin's motion that this change is needed now more than ever. While the proposal in the motion for a spring bonus for those relying on working age social welfare payments will be welcome and will put food on the table, it may fall short of the sea change needed to keep up with inflation. While every little helps, pensioners, people with disabilities, carers and lone parents deserve a boost as much as, if not more, than anyone else in our society. Repeatedly paying out bonuses will not end this emergency. It keeps the wolf from the door for a couple of weeks and then there is a bang on the door again.
The Social Democrats believe in benchmarking social welfare rates to cover the cost of inflation instead of waiting until we reach a crisis such as the one now being experienced in homes the length and breadth of the country. We must move away from a style of politics that waits for people to undergo hardship, pain and strife before they are adequately supported by the State. We have an ongoing poverty problem that must not be ignored but has been ignored thus far by Government after Government. Countless children are going to school without a warm winter coat. They often have to go to bed hungry and the State is not treating them with compassion. It is simply acting as though they do not exist. According to the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, the qualified child increase, along with the working family payment, contribute most to poverty reduction. As I said earlier in this Chamber, if the Government is serious about combating child poverty, it must raise the qualified child increase by at least €10 for children over the age of 12 and by €5 for children under 12 years of age.
People who are fighting illness or have a disability and are unable to work because of it have the highest risk of poverty in Irish society. Nearly 20% of this group are experiencing poverty, which is a horrifying figure. There is an ongoing need for better assistance for these groups such as further investment in disability services and a substantial cost-of-disability payment, which is essential to reducing the likelihood of individuals falling into poverty. To tackle this crisis head on, our social protection system must be benchmarked to the minimum essential standard of living, MESL, to help those experiencing hardship. The MESL is a standard below which nobody should be expected to live. It allows an individual to live with dignity, meeting the person's needs at a minimum but acceptable level. In its pre-budget submission, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul noted there is a €49 gap between core social welfare rates and MESL rates, and those payments continue to trail by an unacceptable margin. It is devastating that we are so far off this mark. That must change.
Without a clear pathway to achieving these standards, the Government has condemned more and more individuals and families to poverty. Speaking in Brussels today about cost-of-living measures, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael McGrath, stated: "It's important that whatever we do is affordable, that we manage taxpayers' money well, that we make decisions to get the best possible result from the use of public money." I put it to the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, that the use of public money can be used to stop 30% of parents in families going without food. I can see no greater endeavour for the use of public money. That this does not seem to be treated with the urgency it deserves is absolutely shambolic.
This Government left €1 billion of taxpayers' money, that is, public money, in an account while people froze on the street this winter, families could not pay their heating bills and parents went without meals to feed their children. While this remains a reality for so many, how can anyone have faith in this Government's decisions that claim to have the people's best interests at heart? It is beyond comprehension. The Government's track record is disastrous. I commend Sinn Féin on bringing forward this motion, which we will support.
I put it to the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, that while the Government has put in place welcome measures to mitigate the cost of living, they do not in any way go far enough. We can see this with energy costs and the cost of food and so on. This crisis impacts the least well-off in society who are on low incomes and fixed payments. When people must resort to food banks we have a huge problem. In any society, especially Ireland which is a very wealthy country, to have people resorting to food banks is a complete and utter failure of the Government.
In times of crisis there are people who do very well. The best example would be the energy companies and the very wealthy in this State. The wealthy in this State have never had it so good. Energy companies have never had it so good. One does not have to be a Bolshevik to explain this. If there was ever a time for a windfall tax on energy companies, it is now.
There should be no equivocation. These companies are making obscene amounts of money, yet people struggle to pay bills. I do not think anybody in the Government could defend this policy, but there seems to be equivocation from Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and, disappointingly, the Green Party. Even the Tories are now talking about windfall taxes on large companies that are making a vast amount of money.
If we want to focus on something even more obscene, it is that the nine richest people in Ireland added €15 billion to their wealth during the pandemic. In the past 18 months, they have become even more wealthy. What does that say? The Government could introduce a wealth tax and bring money back to society for the common good. I do not think that is a hugely radical proposal. It is common sense. Working people are in a continuous economic survival mode in terms of obtaining decent pay, decent conditions, health services, education and so forth. That has always been the case. The fault lines were exposed, not only during the pandemic but during this crisis. Once there is an in-built social inequality and class system, there will always be inequalities whereby the wealthy do extremely well while the working people struggle.
If people cannot live, they will resist. We have seen throughout history that when people cannot feed their children, they go on to the streets. When that happens, anything is possible. I ask the Minister to give that warning to the Government. People are extremely angry and frustrated. They literally cannot feed their families.
I accept that the Minister has taken measures, but it is self-evident that they are not working. We have 600,000 people living on or below the poverty line, hundreds of thousands utilising food banks, hundreds of thousands in arrears with their energy bills from last year, and the highest number of people in emergency accommodation that we have ever seen. The numbers mask the reality of the dire housing crisis we face.
The Minister must do a hell of a lot more but the Government seems reluctant to do so. I thank Sinn Féin for giving us the opportunity to put forward alternative proposals to do that. First, while this is not in the Minister's brief, it must be done. It is insanity and cruelty to let anybody else end up homeless in the current situation. The Minister can stop people going into homelessness but the Government is equivocating. Even the moratorium that was introduced is not comprehensive. I have raised a case on multiple occasions in this House, which is demonstrative of the Government's failures at multiple levels. A woman and her husband are going to the District Court this weekend with their two children. He is a working man, who has worked all his life. They have never claimed anything off the State in their lives. They are going to be evicted from the home where they have lived all of their lives on grounds of sale. They paid their taxes and paid their rent. There are two children, one of whom has special needs, but because they are slightly over the income threshold for social housing, they are not entitled to the housing assistance payment. They are not entitled to social housing. When they are made homeless, which is going to happen, there is an open question as to whether they are even entitled to emergency accommodation. They looked on Daft for somewhere to rent. The family is a single-income one, with somebody working for a well-known semi-State company. There are new apartments just completed on the N11 and the rent is €2,700 a month. That is totally unaffordable. The family can afford €1,000. Jackie told me that if they pushed it, but it would really impoverish them, they could perhaps get that up to €1,500. They are not entitled to anything. There is no HAP support. They are absolutely goosed.
Again and again, I have asked the Government if it will give HAP payments to people whose incomes are over the threshold and who cannot afford stuff, but nothing was done. I asked if the Government would authorise local authorities to purchase houses in cases where people face eviction and are not on social housing lists because their income is slightly over the threshold, but that has not been done. They are goosed. Jackie believes she will be living in her car at the end of the week. Imagine doing that to working people who have worked all their lives, paid their taxes and so on. They are going to end up homeless.
I will cite another case concerning people on illness benefit who are not given the fuel allowance. I mentioned a case to the Minister the other day of a man who cannot turn down the heating because his wife has cancer. They do not get the fuel allowance because they are on illness benefit and they do not get any of the extra payments. Could the Minister please do something about those things?
The cost-of-living crisis continues to bear down hard on working people and their families. Barnardos told us last week that one in ten of those surveyed had been forced to go to a food bank in order to provide. Nearly three in ten were skipping meals to ensure their children could eat. The following day, we were told by Kantar that grocery bills are set to rise by nearly €1,200, on average, per household this year. Gas has increased 140% in the past two years and electricity by 115% in the same period, yet when families received their gas bills in January, they were shocked to see they were the highest they ever got, after the cold spell before Christmas.
What we should be discussing is the need for an emergency budget, one which would see major increases in the basic social welfare payments, and not on a one-off basis; a major increase in the national minimum wage; and pay increases for working people across the board, at least in line with inflation. The Government might ask how would pay for that. The State has a surplus of €5 billion. Let us look beyond that. We were recently told by Oxfam that there are two billionaires in this State who between them have more wealth than the poorest 50% of the population, yet the Government refuses to countenance the idea of a wealth tax. At the very least, the bottom line for this week must be that there will be no cuts in any of the household cost-of-living supports. The Government says the price of diesel is going down at the petrol pumps and that perhaps the changes could be reversed in that regard, but it turns a blind eye to the fact that the prices are skyrocketing in the supermarkets. A cut in any of these supports will be opposed by our group and should be resisted within society.
I welcome the opportunity to speak on the spiralling cost of living, which is the biggest concern for my constituents coming into spring. Although income tax changes and the cost-of-living supports announced in budget 2023 aimed to protect households from the rising cost of living and the impact of inflation, a survey by Barnardos published earlier this week showed that one in ten people had relied on the likes of food banks or food donations over the previous 12 months. This is more than double the number from the previous survey, which indicates that people are being crucified and the prolonged cost-of-living crisis is causing significant financial hardship to families and businesses throughout my constituency of Louth and East Meath.
From an economic perspective, we face two enormous challenges, namely, the cost of living and housing. New figures show the State paid more than €58.2 million to 97,224 applicants for expenses such as energy bills, rent, mortgage payments, clothing, child-related costs and financial help with illness. While another electricity credit of €200 is set to come off bills in March, the reduced 9% VAT rate on electricity and gas and the reduction in excise duty on petrol, diesel and home-heating oil are due to terminate at the end of February. This will see the price increase at the pumps.
Many of my constituents face choosing between eating or heating, with 29.4% of households spending more than 10% of their income on home energy needs. People just need to have the disposable income to meet the additional costs of living. On top of this, the ban on energy disconnection is set to end. We need to step in. We need to commit to the payment of a spring bonus for those relying on social welfare payments and ensure that community welfare officers are available in the community to provide urgent supports to households experiencing severe utility debt.
I acknowledge the measures introduced by the Government in the budget. In theory, people should have more money in their pockets but due to inflation many families are being pushed into poverty. Costs in this country are spiralling. While one-off social housing and pension payments are welcome, as is the extension of safety measures, such as the extension of the ban on evictions and electricity disconnection, we need to offer hard-pressed families real, long-term supports.
I welcome the opportunity to speak to this very important motion. I thank Sinn Féin for tabling it.
I compliment staff in Department of Social Protection offices throughout the country who, since Covid-19 came upon us, have done Trojan work to deal with everything that has been thrown at them. I think it was the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, who said last year that when people were struggling they should contact their community welfare officers. That was in very poor taste for the simple reason that everybody who was listening to the Government decided that if they had an issue they could go to their community welfare officer. That has now created a tsunami of inquiries. We have a situation whereby community welfare officers cannot take phone calls or deal with the issues that are being given to them in a timely fashion. No additional resources are being given to these offices. That is a disgrace. At present, people waiting for supplementary welfare might wait up to 12 weeks. That is not the fault of those trying to deal with this. It is the fault of the people who promoted the idea that social welfare officers would solve every problem that every home has, which was unfair on those officers. I wanted to get that out there.
We have to focus on what the issues are and how we will resolve them. People who are on fixed incomes are still struggling and any talk of taking away the supports that were put in place in the budget is ill-timed. It would be ill-judged to change those supports at this stage. People who are working and do not qualify for social housing, whose household income might be €36,000 or €37,000 and cannot qualify to get onto social housing lists but then qualify for the housing assistance payment, HAP, should be given meaningful supports. We have middle-income people and families who are working to try to stay in existence. They are trying to hold families together and pay all the bills that are coming in. That is an issue that needs to be addressed.
My second point is on people renting accommodation. I am a landlord but I see people coming into my constituency office who are saying their rent increased from €900 to €1,600. That is a devastating blow to get. If people are budgeting and struggling at €900, how will they pay for the rest of it? If they cannot qualify for HAP, where do they go to get some help? For people who are renting and getting no other support, a rent credit per month should be put in place to help them get over this financial burden that is on them at present.
The VAT rate for the hospitality sector should not be increased. If we are to build up our tourism and hospitality services, we need to make sure we stick with those sectors to make sure they can grow themselves back to full throttle again.
People with disabilities have always suffered. This was well flagged in the Indecon report, which stated that anybody with a disability has an additional living cost of approximately €12,000 per year. We do not take this into account when we talk about the increased cost of living and increasing inflation, but it is important that people who have a disability are given the necessary additional supports they now need in order to try to maintain independence of some sort.
Last week, we talked about mortgage interest relief. People who are brave enough to take out a mortgage and take on the purchase of a house without looking for State aid now need to be given that little bit of a leg-up in making sure they get some tax relief on their mortgages, which needs to be put in place immediately. That could be a temporary measure for the next two to three years until things settle down again.
The Department has done a huge amount of work and brought in a significant number of schemes. We need to do a lot more, however, and keep much more in place because this problem has not gone away. As long as we have a housing issue that is completely out of control, we will have all the add-on problems we see day to day.
I thank Sinn Féin for tabling this important motion. People in every walk of life are suffering from the increased cost of living in our country, especially less well-off people who are suffering more and are less able to cope with these increased costs.
The increased cost of gas and oil has driven up everything else. If we did what other countries did at the very beginning by capping the cost of electricity and curtailing the amount of VAT on gas, carbon tax and excise that the Government took, the thing could have been controlled much better and the cost of living would have remained basically the same as it had been. It would have made life much easier for everyone.
The cost of electricity has tripled, the electricity companies are making triple the profits out of it and the Government is taking increased tax out of it. Yet, as we know today, the cost of making electricity has reduced considerably. We have oil off the Cork coast and gas off the Kerry coast and the Shannon liquefied natural gas, LNG, terminal could import gas more cheaply from western sources. The Government does not want to entertain that because of its green policies.
Sadly, there is the VAT on the hospitality sector. If the Government increases that, who will pay for it only the consumer? It will hurt the tourism sector. The Government must keep that VAT rate at 9%.
The Government has missed its opportunities.
The cost of living is pushing people to the edge. In my constituency that is what they tell me in my clinics during the weekends and over the phone, as many more have said tonight. Electricity and fuel are at exorbitant prices. The Government has done nothing to make sure that that does not impact the people. Businesses are struggling. The Government must signal to the tourism and hospitality sector that it will extend the 9% VAT rate currently applied to the industry. The rate is due to increase to 13.5% in March. The reality is that west Cork tourism and all the indirect jobs that rely on it are simply not in a position to absorb any increase in the VAT rate. If anything, there has to be an extension of the VAT rate and an extension of the temporary business energy support scheme, TBESS, which is due to end in February. If TBESS goes and the VAT rate increase proceeds, it will be nothing less than an economic assault on west Cork tourism, on every restaurant, every hotel, every café and every pub which is struggling at present.
I can show the Minister of State if he comes down to west Cork. Unfortunately, if you drive around, Friday and Saturday are the only chance to see the doors open in our local community for many cafés and pubs at present. Our local hotels, many of which are family-run, are shuddering at the thought of what is coming down the tracks. This is reflected in data from the Irish Hotels Federation, which recently found that an astonishing 81% of Irish hoteliers are very concerned about the impact of a VAT increase on their businesses as they do not expect a full recovery in overseas visitor numbers until 2026 at the earliest.
Let us not forget our hairdressers, who are also very vulnerable. Their industry, too, has been plunged into major fear of significant job losses and closures across the sector. The Government has said that with the VAT decrease it provided for last year there will be a soft blow. There should be no blow because the decrease should not be taken back this time.
I thank most sincerely Deputy Doherty and Sinn Féin for tabling this very important motion. The cost-of-living crisis is affecting people in Ireland in a profound way, especially in rural areas and among farmers. This crisis is characterised by a sharp increase in the cost of basic necessities, such as housing, food and healthcare, while wages remain stagnant. This has left many people struggling to make ends meet and is having a severe impact on the well-being of rural residents and farmers. In Ireland the cost of energy, housing and now food has been a major contributory factor to the cost of living. This is especially true in rural areas, where there is limited access to public transportation and where people often have to rely on private cars to get to and from their places of work and on oil for home central heating systems. The high cost of renting and increased mortgage interest rates are making it more and more difficult for people to afford the cost of housing and are contributing to the growing number of homeless people.
There is absolutely no doubt but that it is ironic to hear Deputies tonight talk about this and say more should be done while, at the same time, many of those Deputies, including those in the Green Party, are pursuing a policy of putting more and more costs on top of people. We hear people say, whatever they do, not to light cosy fires, in other words, if you have access to turf or timber not to light a fire to warm yourself, whether you are old or elderly or whether it is your way of life and how you want to keep yourself warm. People are told they should not do that and that they should go cold. I am privileged to represent the people in my constituency. I will tell them to light their fires, to do what they need to do to keep themselves warm and to take no notice of what a person up here in a suit tells them to do.
It is a disgrace if the 9% VAT rate is not going to be kept to allow the hospitality sector to continue giving a proper service to the people.
The Government is taxing the people on its failure to provide alternatives, and the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, is part of that, as are the lot of other people around here, including some of the Independents, who back the Government's policies when it comes time for a vote to put more taxes on the people. Fuel - tax at 50 cent in every euro. The clothes on their backs - tax. The food in their children's lunchboxes - tax. Now the Government is going back to the hospitality industry, an industry that provides a circular economy and local employment and is made up of local producers. What is the Government going to do? It is going to try to put the VAT rate on the sector back up to 13.5%. Who will pay for it? The local people who want to go out to support local hospitality will.
The Government knows nothing but tax. That explains why it had €5 billion left in the coffers this year, but it wanted everyone in this country to suffer at the hands of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens and the couple that back them at every turn and every vote. The Government took €5 billion in extra tax from every man, woman and child in this country. No wonder the Minister of State is sitting with his head face down and the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, left two minutes ago. She was afraid to hear the truth, and she is going around now trying to launch the Government's campaign for the next election, saying they will give people this money and that money. That is Limerick's money. It is Clare's money. It is Tipperary's money. It is not government money. It belongs to the people of Ireland and the Government should have used it to protect the people of Ireland rather than trying to protect its own seats at the next election.
I call Deputy Mattie McGrath.
The genie is out of the bottle. The Government is screwing the people with tax. I will not repeat what has been said, but a person with no education could see it. Tax receipts are booming because the Government has added more tax - carbon tax, extra VAT and everything else. It plays games with money, moving it around here and there like in a game of Monopoly, trying to cod the people.
I salute the community welfare officers and the social welfare officers who work so hard trying to deal with people. I do not accept the flippant words from a senior Minister one day, when he said, "Let them go to the community welfare officer." First, they have been removed from the country areas. You have to find them in the towns now. The Government is penalising the people every which way they turn.
There are two things wrong with this. One is that the Government is taking its orders from Europe or the World Economic Forum, WEF, or wherever else. The second is that Government Deputies are not upholding their duty as elected Teachtaí Dála or the mandate of the Government to serve the people of Ireland. They are not serving them. They have refused to cap the prices charged by the ESB and the gas companies. They have refused for ages to change the toolbox they had from Europe whereby they were charging us all the same price for smelly oil as they were for wind energy. That was another trick. That changed last October, but still the prices have not come down and the massive profits go on. The Government is beholden to big conglomerates every minute of every hour of every day, 24-7. That is what it is doing. It is not representing the people of rural Ireland.
It has all these ideas such as climate change. You cannot go into any town or village now. They are like airport runways with footpaths the width of half this Chamber. It is such a mockery, with dirty, rotten concrete, and you cannot get money to spend on a bridge. A bridge in Ardfinnan, in my constituency, has been operating according to a one-way system for the past six or seven years, and then there is active travel or whatever the Government wants to call it. What do you do when you end up with no active travel? The people were walking before and they will walk again. Yet they will give Government Deputies their walking boots, their marching boots and their running boots, and there will be no hiding place for those Deputies. The long grass will not be there to hide them either, so it will be a case of off with ye - ye have done too much damage.
I thank Sinn Féin and Deputy Doherty for tabling this Private Members' motion.
Two reports have come out over the past month about the everyday reality for people in Ireland. One is from Barnardos, on food poverty in Ireland, and one is from Oxfam, on wealth inequality. They reveal two starkly different experiences of living in this country. Just two people in this country have nearly twice as much wealth as the bottom 50%.
Since 2020, the richest 1% of people have received 63% of new wealth generated, and the bottom 90% got just over 10%. This is while nearly one in three parents skipped one or more meal per week to make sure their children could eat properly, while the richest 1% of people got to hoard 27% of the country's wealth and the bottom 50% had to make do with 1.1% of the wealth. Working-class people are cutting back on food, heating and meals, all in order to make ends meet while the rich make millions off high rents and prices. The Government said a couple of weeks ago that it cannot afford to keep up all of the cost-of-living supports. How much longer can we afford to let the rich's wealth skyrocket year after year, while working-class people's lives get harder and harder? How much longer can we afford to let the rich get richer while everyone else struggles? The fact is that working-class people's lives are getting worse. This cost-of-living crisis is not going away. We are one of the richest countries in the world but we have nearly 600,000 people living in poverty, and this Government is contemplating taking away supports that hundreds of thousands of people desperately need.
The eviction ban ends on 1 April. If this happens, there will be a surge of tenants facing the prospect of losing their homes. There are 11,632 people already in emergency accommodation, and we know that is the tip of the iceberg. I am already seeing a significant increase in people coming into the constituency office after receiving upcoming notices to quit, which is eviction. We must extend the eviction ban. We saw on Monday that Daft.ie has said that rents have risen by 13.7% in the past year and, more importantly, available places have dropped by over 20%.
Groceries are up 15% in price, inflation is still at its highest in years and wages are not even nearly keeping up with any of that. People need assistance and they need more help than the current social welfare system offers them. People on social welfare, pensioners, people with disabilities, carers and lone parents need not just temporary supports and payments, but real increases in benefits to match inflation and get them back above water. There is a need for a €15 per hour minimum wage. We need proper, permanent and universal increases in social welfare to get people out of the trouble they are in. Social Justice Ireland and other organisations are consistently calling for a minimum of an extra €8 per week for social welfare recipients, just so people can catch up with this crisis. We know the 12% increase is a cut in real terms because there had not been an increase in 2021. For the last three years in a row, welfare income has fallen in real terms.
As has been said, community welfare officers need to be put back into the community, which is an issue I raised over a year ago. It is not good enough to have to sit on the end of a phone for ages waiting to get an appointment a couple weeks from now and then waiting a number of weeks for that welfare payment to come through. We need more community welfare officers, and they need to be in local health clinics where people can reach them, particularly in rural areas where people have to travel long distances to go into the Intreo office. We need the establishment of a specific cost-of-living fund so that community welfare officers can have real discretionary funding for people who need immediate support. Will the Government maintain the reduced VAT rate for gas and electricity after the end of February, along with the reduced rates of excise duty for petrol, diesel and home heating oil? Will it continue the ban on energy disconnections? We need proper targeted payments to those in need, real reliefs for fuel and everyday needs, and real caps on prices to stop the gouging we see in the shops and on the garage forecourts. This is not just about people struggling during the cost-of-living crisis; it is about people who were struggling before it and will struggle after it.
On mortgage rates, I met a woman this morning who has her mortgage with a vulture fund and she said her mortgage has gone up to €1,550 per month from €1,200 per month. She had to go in and negotiate to extend the length of her mortgage by five years to keep it at €1,200. These are the measures people are dealing with. This country is seeing a massive transfer of wealth from working-class people to the richest in society. We need to end that and we need to reverse it. Oxfam has called for a graduated wealth tax starting at 2%, which would provide an extra €8 billion for desperately needed supports and services for working-class families and communities. The Green Party would have supported that before so why is it not doing it now?
I want to thank Sinn Féin for the motion we have before us this evening and I note we also have an amendment from the Government. The Government's amendment lists all of the supports, both once-off and permanent, that it has put in place, and some of those are significant. I know some people who consider that the supports they have been provided with are a type of safety net. While those people are still stretched, they have noticed the mitigating impact of those supports on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis, and that is why it is crucial for those people that there is no cliff-edge and that those supports remain in place.
The rate of inflation remains high at over 7%, which is on top of the 8% from last year. While it is stabilising slightly, it has not reduced or gone backwards. The lump sum and extra payments the Government put in place are still needed, just to keep people going. One of the reasons we need to continue many of these payments is that the core social welfare rates have not kept pace with inflation and it has not even been close. That means those relying on social welfare payments have fallen further behind with every 0.1% increase in inflation. This is hitting people hard when it comes to the basics, including food and energy inflation. As the Sinn Féin motion tells us, gas bills have increased by around 140% over the last two years, and electricity bills have increased by 115%.
The Government should strongly consider the recommendations on the index-linking of welfare payments put forward by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC, in a recent report. The priority recommendation in that report is that the Government should adopt welfare indexation across social welfare policy, development and reform as a matter of priority. Crucially, it recommends that qualifying thresholds for supports are adjusted in tandem with indexed welfare payments in order to ensure recipients are not disqualified from the supports they rely on. I understand that this is more of a budgetary matter but when the Government says in its amendment to the motion that it will keep matters "under review", I ask that the indexation of welfare payments would be part of that review.
It is not just those on social welfare payments who are finding it extremely difficult to keep going. It is also difficult for those on fixed payments such as pensions; not social welfare pensions but class D pensions, for example. I have raised this in the House many times. These are people who, through no fault of their own, are on these pensions that are higher than the non-contributory pension but are still quite low. As they are not on a social welfare payment, they are not able to get, for example, a living alone allowance or the fuel allowance. I recognise that the Minister ensured that a couple earning less than €1,000 per week who are over 70 would get the fuel allowance and that is positive. However, it also needs to be extended to those on the working family payment and those whose income is below a certain level. The levels it should put in place for those over 70 should be a benchmark for those under 70.
I strongly support the call from Sinn Féin to ensure that community welfare officers are available in the community to provide urgent supports and in-person appointments. The in-person appointments are important because the role of a community welfare officer is to ensure the welfare of those in the community who need support. One-to-one support is important to establish the level of need, and where appropriate, to provide adequate supports in the form of a supplementary welfare allowance. This is a service that many people relied on and still rely on. It is their plan B or C and it is not working the way it should. If a community welfare officer is needed to ensure the welfare of those most in need in the community, they must be available and they must have sufficient money to ensure urgent supports are provided, which is not happening.
I want to strongly make the case for small businesses, many of which continue to be hammered by exorbitant energy prices. This is true across all sectors. I make a strong plea to the Government not to increase the VAT rate from 9% to 13.5%. The tourism and hospitality sector is in dread of this move, as are hairdressers. Please do not add to inflation by increasing the VAT rate.
I thank the Deputies for an engaging discussion on the important issue of the cost of living.
As already outlined by my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, the fundamental objective of Government policy in this issue is to take action to support our citizens, monitor the impact of those actions, listen to the suggestions from this House and respond appropriately at the right time.
I want to address a couple of specific aspects of the motion, including how whole-of-government action is responding to combat food poverty and energy poverty. We know that a combination of many factors, such as the war in Ukraine and Brexit, have led to rising food prices, which creates a financial challenge for many households. Like all of the Government, I am acutely aware of this challenge. That is why significant measures, including and outside of the annual budgetary cycle, have been implemented in an effort to protect households. Indeed, recent research from the ESRI shows that lower-income households are more protected after the budget measures than they would be if welfare rates were index-linked to price increases.
The road map for social inclusion, which is a whole-of-government strategy to reduce poverty, includes a commitment to develop a comprehensive programme of work to explore further the drivers of food poverty and to identify mitigating actions. I established a working group on food poverty to deliver on this commitment. The membership of this group comprises representatives from relevant Departments as well as the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Crosscare and the Children's Rights Alliance. We have also looked at good practice from other jurisdictions. The food poverty working group produced a report last July setting out the programmes, services and supports across government that address food poverty. It found that, across government, some €89 million was spent in 2021 on measures addressing and preventing food poverty. The group also developed a research proposal to analyse the prevalence, drivers and possible mitigating actions to address food poverty in two case study areas: Dublin 24 and rural Ballinasloe and its hinterland. The research contract was awarded to Amárach Research and is well under way at present.
As part of budget 2023, I was pleased to secure funding to develop and implement a new scheme to support people experiencing food poverty while at the same time drilling into the drivers of food poverty so that we can further develop a comprehensive set of effective responses. The design of this pilot is near completion and the procurement process will be run in the coming weeks. It is simply not right that some people are dependent on food banks. The Government is aware of the issue of food poverty and is taking clear steps to develop an evidence-based model to support individuals and their families who are affected while at the same time addressing the root causes. It is important to note that the hot school meals programme continues to expand. It started with 30 schools and has expanded to 500 schools. There is a commitment from myself and the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, to continue to expand that programme.
My colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, published the energy poverty action plan last December. It provides for the establishment of a €10 million fund to further support people in or at risk of energy poverty this winter and into 2023, including people on pay-as-you-go meters. The fund will provide a further safeguard in addition to the supports from suppliers and the additional needs payment operated by the Department of Social Protection. The plan sets out a range of measures being implemented this winter as well as longer-term measures to ensure those least able to afford increased energy costs are supported and protected. The implementation of the new action plan is being monitored by a cross-departmental steering group chaired by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.
As an immediate and practical support, the Government has introduced a package of electricity credits in order to combat energy poverty. The package of targeted and broader supports in budget 2023 includes three €200 electricity credits. The total cost of this measure is estimated to be over €1.2 billion and will be applied to an estimated 2.2 million domestic electricity accounts. The first of these three €200 electricity credits was applied before Christmas, the second payment is currently being credited to bills for the January-February billing cycle and the next payment of support will be applied in the March-April billing cycle. Combined with the first electricity benefits scheme from last year, over 2.1 million households will automatically receive €800 of income support through their electricity bill at a total cost of €1.5 billion between quarter 2 of 2022 and quarter 2 this year. The impact of these measures is clear in the data. It shows that the number of domestic customers in arrears has reduced due to both electricity cost emergency benefit schemes. The number of electricity domestic customers in arrears fell in the second and fourth quarters of 2022, corresponding to the roll-out of the first scheme and the first payment of the second scheme. Furthermore, there has been a 30% increase in the number of registered vulnerable customers as a result of a Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, promotion campaign. Registering as a vulnerable customer provides additional protection against disconnection. This is vital, as vulnerable customers can only receive the necessary support if they register with their supply companies. The impact of the electricity credit scheme on households is currently being reviewed by the Department. Work is under way to identify potential measures for winter 2023-24. These measures are in addition to the targeted social protection measures being taken by the Department of Social Protection, including the expansion of the fuel allowance scheme in which €1,324 is provided to recipients over the winter period.
I reiterate that the Government is keenly aware of the recent price increases and their impact on households and businesses in Ireland. For this reason, the Government acted early - indeed, earlier than most other governments - in providing a response package to the issue early in 2022. In summary, the Government's range of early measures included energy credits; excise and VAT reductions on food and energy; the extension of the lower VAT rate for tourism and hospitality; reducing the caps for multiple children on school transport fees; maintaining the enhancement of the diesel rebate scheme; and reducing public transport fees by 20%. All of these measures help all households but are of a particular benefit to families on low incomes. The Government backed those up with a €2.2 billion social protection measure as part of budget 2023, providing a mixture of targeted lump-sum payments and across-the-board increases in weekly welfare rates. This approach of focusing measures in order that they benefit lower-income households is important because we know that these households have less capacity to absorb price increases. To the extent that prices of basic goods such as foods are increasing, these households are more vulnerable to risk of poverty and deprivation than other households. These measures maintain the trend that is supported by ESRI research of complementing general tax and social protection measures with specific measures designed to support those at higher risk of poverty. I assure Members that the Government will continue to monitor the situation nationally and internationally, including price developments, in planning future actions. We intend to complement broader-based welfare and tax changes with targeted measures, as we have done to date, to support the most vulnerable households at the highest risk of poverty.
I will briefly address some of the issues and questions raised this evening. On the windfall tax, it is imminent. It will be payable on profits from energy companies from last year and from this year. The community welfare service is expanding. There will be an additional 74 staff brought on board within the next six weeks. The Minister for Social Protection will provide a smoothed earnings benchmark report for the State pension to the Government for input into budget 2024.
I thank Members for their time and engagement this evening. I want to state how important it is to ensure these issues remain a key focus of all Members of this House during a unique period of rising inflation, both nationally and internationally. I feel strongly that it is important to keep the issue of poverty front and centre of the political agenda so that we can continue to prioritise work to eliminate it. I assure Members that all suggestions and proposals will receive due consideration as the Government continues to respond to the unfolding situation.
I wish to share time with Deputy Clarke.
The Sinn Féin motion recognises the pressures facing Irish workers and families. It recognises, in particular, that those who depend on social welfare payments, who include the elderly and people with disabilities as well as those who are seeking work, are worse off today than they were last year. It recognises the reality of the significant numbers of parents who are forced to use a food bank for the first time in their lives. Our motion recognises that, under Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, families have faced record-level grocery inflation, which is on top of soaring electricity costs. That is on top of rent costs, which were already among the highest in the western world when this Government came to office and are now so high that some of our brightest and best-educated young people are being forced to move abroad in order to get a roof over their heads. That is on top of the mortgage interest rate hikes that have put many of those who are lucky enough to have bought a home in fear of losing it because Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael refuse to support Sinn Féin's proposal for mortgage interest relief. That is on top of childcare costs, insurance costs, fuel costs and education costs, all of which, for Irish families, are higher than virtually anywhere else in the world.
The Sinn Féin motion not only recognises these realities, it also puts forward the measures that will give those families a break.
It calls for a spring bonus payment for those on social welfare, an extension of fuel allowance for those on the working family payment, and a discretionary fund to provide financial supports to struggling families. That is on top of our proposals for working families, including those on mortgage relief, to reduce the cost of motor fuel, home heating, and, crucially, rent and childcare. We proudly stand on the side the Government continually steps over.
On the other hand, the Government amendment lays bare how detached the Ministers are. There is just one single line in the amendment that refers to future supports. The amendment states the Government is "keeping the cost-of-living situation under review". That is the sum total of it, yet the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, has the audacity to come into the Chamber and lecture about the North and deflect in a dozen different directions without offering a single, positive proposition for families who, right now, do not know how they will survive. It all points to a Government that only moves on the cost-of-living crisis when Sinn Féin forces it to do so, and always does so little, so late. It points to a Government that is completely out of touch. It points to the urgent need for a change of Government.
I agree with the Minister on one thing; it is simply not right that people have to depend on food banks. I could not agree more, although, that is probably the point at which we diverge. I listened to what she said. I heard of pilot studies, future plans and everything that may or may not happen in the future, and therein lies the crux of the issue. What the Government is offering people is not solutions or immediate answers. It is a future that has no hope for them that they will see next week. It is an uncertain future. There is no reassurance the cliff edge of supports will not come. Instead, people are hearing the drip, drip of potentials that may come. They are constantly hearing the Government talking about what it is and is not reviewing as opposed to what it is and is not doing. The facts are that workers and families are struggling with record energy bills, rising food costs and increased mortgage repayments. There is not a county that has not been impacted by this. Once again, the Government has been too slow to act. That is another fact.
While we do not dispute the steps the Government has taken, we do dispute their impact. We will also have a little bit of a disagreement with the Minister about where it is she needs to go from here. She must focus a support package for those with mortgage interest relief and additional measures for those most at risk, including those on fixed incomes and low incomes. Almost 595,000 people in the State now live on incomes below the poverty line. The Barnardos report has been quoted in this House before and I will do so again. One in ten parents used food banks in 2020. This is a report the validity of which the Taoiseach attempts to undermine instead of taking on board the real stresses and pressures on people. Average gas bills went up 140% in two years. Electricity bills are up approximately 115%. The ESRI estimates the number of households in energy poverty has increased to 29%. Everything is going up. Even when cutting back, the gaps between income and outgoings are widening. Pensioners, people with disability, carers and loan parents are the ones who desperately need this spring bonus. We also need to see the fuel allowance extended to recipients of the working family payment.
I do not for one moment blame the staff, who are doing tremendous work under enormous pressure, but there are not enough community welfare officers to go around or meet the demand coming from communities. They need to be better resourced in our communities. Waiting four weeks for a payment that is allegedly an emergency payment is not good enough.
I thank everybody who contributed to the debate. It is an important debate in a crucial week for households that will in large part determine how they will cope during the rest of the year. I acknowledge the Minister of State, Deputy O'Brien's contribution was of on different level. At least he talked about some measures. However, if anybody needed an example of how far out of touch the Government is, it was the contribution of the Minister, Deputy Humphreys.
Sinn Féin has tabled a motion tonight after people have queued for food parcels today. As parents are sitting down wondering how they will feed their kids supper and what is in store tomorrow and next week, they are watching this debate hoping the Government will recognise their hardships and plight. The Minister, who is the Minister for Social Protection not just for the Fine Gael Party but supposedly for the State, failed to address any of that. She showed no empathy whatsoever for people on the breadline. She showed no empathy for the fact, as outlined by Barnardos, that one in ten people visited food banks last year or that one in three of those surveyed have gone without food to make sure their kids could eat. This is the type of Ireland we are talking about. The point has been made that it is great we have a booming economy, but it makes no difference to those individuals if the Government cannot turn a booming economy into real change and real delivery for ordinary people. We cannot have a situation where GDP is growing but the queues at the food banks are growing and doubling.
The strategy from Fine Gael today was to kick the messenger, with the Taoiseach having a go at Barnardos by questioning its survey. We do not have to rely on Barnardos. Any volunteer involved will say the demand on services has increased and that there are waiting lists. They will say it is difficult to keep up with the cost-of-living crisis and the demand on food banks because people were not protected enough by the Government in the previous budget. Let us look at the social enterprise organisation, FoodCloud. In 2021, it delivered 7.4 million meals to charities throughout the State, which subsequently provided the meals to families who needed that type of support through food banks and in other ways. That is the reality under this Government. It is the reality the Minister and the Taoiseach do not want to accept. It is time for them to get their heads out of the sand. People are struggling despite what happened in the October budget. There was a conscious decision taken by the Cabinet that core social welfare rates would not be kept in line with inflation. That is a fact. Core social welfare rates were increased to below the inflation rate. That means people are poorer this year than they were last year. The consequences of that mean more people will turn to charities, soup kitchens, and food banks for support.
This is the time members of the Government need to understand where people are at. They need to understand the plight. They need to get down from their ivory tower and recognise that not all of them in their little cliques are as protected or as insulated from the cost-of-living crisis as the rest, because there are two parts to Ireland. There are people who are protected and are not worried about the cost-of-living crisis, but there are many thousands, indeed, tens of thousands of families who are under massive pressure. That is why Sinn Féin has tabled the motion, to which the Government did not even respond.
There is a need for additional supports. A spring bonus should be paid to 1.3 million people, such as carers, people on disability allowances, pensioners and social welfare recipients. Energy supports should be extended to those working families who have been abandoned by the Government. The policy we put forward to the Government last week should be implemented, making sure those being screwed by mortgage interest rates are protected. The introduction of mortgage interest relief would absorb some of the increased mortgage costs those working families have had to pay. Sinn Féin is coming up with solutions time and again, but what we have is a Government that is tone deaf to the plight, misery and struggles ordinary families are facing in the middle of this cost-of-living crisis.
I again say the Government needs to get its head out of the sand and recognise where people are at. It should address this by bringing forward a suite of measures, including mortgage interest relief, double payments, extending the cuts to excise rebates, a proper rent credit, the cutting of childcare costs appropriately, and the increase of social welfare rates to a level that will protect the most vulnerable people from inflation. These are just a number of measures a real Government that understands the plight of people, a Sinn Féin Government, would do if we were in the Government's position.
Amendment put.
In accordance with Standing Order 80(2), the division is postponed until the weekly division time on Wednesday, 15 February 2023.
