Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 May 2024
379. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Social Protection the cost of increasing each weekly social welfare payment to meet the minimum essential standard of living for 2024 as detailed by an organisation (details supplied) in tabular form. [22436/24]
View answer380. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Social Protection the cost of increasing each weekly social welfare payment to meet the minimum essential standard of living for 2025 as detailed by an organisation (details supplied) in tabular form. [22437/24]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 379 and 380 together.
The Minimum Essential Standard of Living (MESL) is an assessment of the minimum income needed to live and partake in the social and economic norms of everyday life for various household types.
One of the benefits of the work of the Vincentian MESL Research Centre is that it provides an analysis of the different levels of income needed for a wide range of household types, including the different costs that arise for households in rural and urban locations.
For instance, the 2023 MESL Annual Update, published last year, shows the differences in the cost of meeting households needs in urban and rural areas. Differentiating social welfare payment rates based on location is problematic and it is therefore not possible to accurately cost the increased cost of raising social welfare rates to the different MESL rates due to differences in location, household composition and service usage.
The work of the MESL also highlights issues that may be better solved with greater access to services, rather than increases in income. In this regard, having access to secondary benefits such as medical cards and supports in the areas of housing and childcare can result in significant reductions in the minimum income standards needed by households, which presents another difficulty in using the MESL as a benchmark for the level of social welfare payments alone.
For these reasons, while not used as a benchmark in and of itself, the work of the Vincentian MESL Research Centre at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul is and will continue to be a valuable input into the policy-making process.
The MESL Report for 2024 and 2025 have yet to be published. The 2024 MESL Report is due to be published on June 18th 2024.
