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taken in the round, many incomes will fall without the permanent social protection supports. We are talking about the removal of the living alone allowance, disability support grants, electricity credits and the October double payment. All of that is retrograde. The cost of disability is the extra spending

billion was given away to fast-food chains and property developers. This could have increased the income disregard for those on the disability allowance to €250. It could have increased funding for the EmployAbility and WorkAbility programmes to support people with disabilities in the workplace. It could have … enough left over to provide even more supports like increasing the living alone allowance to €27 per week and the fuel allowance by €9.50, providing an additional four weeks also. I wish to raise those living with a disability and the problems they have in gaining employment

double payments for child payment for each child, one on 5 November and the second on 3 December; €200 for the living alone allowance on 11 November; €400 for domiciliary care allowance and the carer’s support grant on 11 November; and €100 for each qualifying child … fruition for four or five years is wrong. They talk about more gardaí, teachers and nurses but where are they going to live? If a nurse and garda marry each other and look to buy a house in the mid-east region, both incomes do not allow them

Society of St. Vincent de Paul said €16 were needed to be added to every core weekly payment, we agreed. We made allowance for that in our costed alternative budget. As for Fine Gael, we had the usual pre-budget whining, pitting one section of welfare recipient against … package going up, for example. It has not gone up in 12 years. We would push it by €10 a week. The living alone allowance has not gone up in years. It should have gone up by at least a fiver to €27. We also believe child benefit

line in November: not one but two double payments of child benefit; a €400 lump sum for carers; €200 on the living alone allowance; and so much cash to toss around that the Government even had a €280 grant to wet new babies' heads. The Government was literally

lives of older people. A key focus for Government is about allowing older people to continue to live independently in their own homes and communities for as long as they wish. In health alone we have seen an increase of €215 million. It is a 7% rise

many are denied carer's allowance simply because their spouse earns just over the threshold. That is not support; it is punishment. We are facing a serious shortage of nursing home beds. In Bantry alone, 17 beds remain closed in Aperee Living Nursing Home - an issue I brought

tell a pensioner living on the side of the hill in the likes of Carrignavar or Mourneabbey who will not be helped by this Government because they have to rely on home heating oil? Along with this, there is €5 extra for fuel allowance. Five bloody euro. What … just be shoved into the general budget of the Department of Transport or Transport Infrastructure Ireland. They should have been recognised as stand-alone projects by the Government. On education, there have been improvements. I will accept that but they in no way go far enough

Government has abandoned them. The Government has chosen deliberately to ignore the needs of workers in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. It could have done alternatives as we and others have shown but what it did was spend big feathering the nests of developers, landlords … carer's allowance or a worker handing over half their income in rent and seeing this kind of shameless handout to the rich and well connected. How does the Minister explain that to workers who are getting absolutely hammered by the cost-of-living crisis? These

necessary action when the opportunity allows. The Minister agreed with me that cost-rental housing can help with the issue. Thanks to new rules, housing charities can now give priority to local people when allocating these homes. That means people who live and work in these areas have … need more funding is a sign of success. It means they are building more homes and helping more people. In County Clare alone last year, approved housing bodies received €36.1 million in funding from the HFA from which it delivered 146 homes. In County Clare, approved housing bodies

provide a stable funding source for further and higher level education, which is the engine of our economic growth and near full employment. Allowing for the use of the fund for capital investment within the defined purposes of the 2000 Act will enable the better … current accumulated surplus over the next five years, the fund will still have an annual surplus of €230 million this year alone. This is sustainable revenue that can be used to extend the social safety net and improve benefits for workers and employers. We in the Labour Party

should welcome the move we have made in that regard. We have to do more, but there is a €300 million package alone for the lowest income. Look at the objective assessment. The Labour Party should acknowledge that the two lowest-income deciles will benefit the most from … disability, there are significant increases in a range of payments, particularly the disability pension, but also in terms of the domiciliary care allowance, which is going up a further €20 on top of last year's increase, and that is right and proper. There is work under

stain on humanity and it demands our unflinching condemnation. Since the war began, over 65,000 people have lost their lives, tens of thousands more have been injured and millions are displaced and starving. Children are buried beneath rubble, hospitals and schools are destroyed and an entire people … words alone are not enough. The famine now gripping Gaza is entirely man-made. It is the direct result of a blockade that is strangling an entire people. That blockade must end immediately. Food, water and medicine must be allowed into Gaza unhindered. There is a glimmer

Many of these households are doubly affected because they also have members who care on a 24-hour basis on a carer's allowance of €260 per week or €1.55 per hour. It is not unusual therefore for carers themselves to become ill from stress, overwork and isolation … fully agree with the motion put forward by Sinn Féin this evening, which calls for the immediate introduction of a weekly cost-of-living payment and a lump-sum payment before Christmas in recognition of the additional costs. I want to return to the fundamental issue

time of global challenge. This investment will not alone increase the potential of our economy, it will boost growth and job creation in the short and medium term. This, in turn, will further safeguard and improve the lives of our citizens. Our Public Finances Due to the hard … future budgets are sustainable and affordable and keep our public finances and people safe. Reliance and Resilience Our corporation tax revenues have allowed us to respond to challenges such as the pandemic and the cost-of-living challenge. However, we all know the degree of our volatility

immediate ceasefire. The unconditional and immediate release of hostages held by Hamas is an absolute imperative. Israel must fully lift the blockade and allow humanitarian assistance at scale into Gaza, delivered by UN agencies including UNRWA and partner humanitarian organisations. It is a sobering reality that famine … sheer, bloody slaughter as a first port is certainly something we should all aspire to. Israelis have the right to live in peace and security but so do Palestinians. However, international law limits the use of force in self-defence to no more than what is necessary

However, they still charge us the same amount for those groceries. Real incomes have decreased as inflation and the cost of living have risen. Electricity, which every person uses and which should be considered an essential, is being profiteered off. The price of electricity has risen … opportunity to note that they are all at the top of the BDS list. McDonald's makes €41 million in profits in Ireland alone, so the chicken mcnugget subsidy is very aptly named. Supermacs has profits of €46 million. Deloitte, the accounting firm, has told the Government time

Irish Government to plan and prepare for Irish unity, through the following actions: — establish an all-island representative Citizens' Assembly or Assemblies, to allow for informed debate, and a Joint Oireachtas Committee on Irish Unity to enable careful planning; — produce and publish a plan towards Irish unity … Ireland. The momentum for the reunification of Ireland is building. Across Ireland, among people from all walks of life, the unity conversation is live and there is an onus on the Government to prepare for constitutional change and to plan for unity referendums. There are encouraging signs

likely to have exceeded 5 million viewers in the US alone. I saw figures in online newspapers today indicating it had the largest viewership for an overseas American football game so far. The game was also broadcast live in Ireland and the UK and social media content from … opportunity to gain first-hand experience of the scale, standard, benefits and logistical challenge of hosting this major sporting event. It also allowed me to witness the contribution Ireland has to offer on the international golf stage and to promote Ireland as the next host of the Ryder

lives, jobs and the long-term viability of one of Ireland's major fisheries ports. Ireland's offshore fleet in ports like Dunmore East, Castletownbere and Howth are central to our seafood economy, supporting hundreds of jobs in fishing, processing, engineering and exports, yet our fleets are allowed … Brussels with a clear mandate not simply to manage, but to fight for Ireland's corner. It cannot be on his shoulders alone; it has to be on the shoulders of the Taoiseach, as Head of Government, and the Tánaiste, in his role as Minister for Foreign Affairs

with a disability. On top of this, the Government has decided it is not worthwhile to keep the real value of the disability allowance in line with inflation. The prices for people with disabilities go up as they do for the rest of us. When the cost … estimated growth in population of up to 22,500 people over the next ten years. It is currently being built, and people are living there, yet we are seeing a reduction in the number of gardaí in the area. People in my area contact me regularly

people around the country really care if the house they are living in might look like one that someone else in Donegal is living in? They do not. Private developers are doing it. They simply change a little bit of fabric on the outside of the front, change … emphasis on getting houses in place. This year, for example, Laois County Council has a spend of €491,000 for HAP alone. If we take leasing and other measures, we are looking at €14 million out of a budget of around €30 million for housing. Half the budget

until we scratch the surface of it. There is a €10 increase for pensioners and social welfare recipients, a €5 increase in fuel allowance, and a 9% VAT rate move that I would argue does too little too late by July of 2026. Some of my colleagues have … Governments going back to 2009. That is not charity; it is just simple justice for those people. With regard to the cost of living, the reality on the ground at the supermarkets is that inflation is still above 5%. A family pack of chicken costing

asked the Minister for Social Protection the reason a person (details supplied) does not have an entitlement to the fuel allowance or living alone allowance; the options now available to the person; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52847/25

Deputy Paul Donnelly asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of applications his Department received for the living alone allowance in 2024 and to date in 2025; the number of applications that were refused in each of the years in question; and the average processing times

Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Social Protection to outline the number of people in receipt of the living alone allowance per year from 2020 to date in 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53261/25

Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Social Protection the cost of the living alone allowance, per year from 2020 to date in 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53262/25

Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Social Protection the estimated cost of expanding living alone allowance to all individuals over the age of 66; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53263/25

Minister for Social Protection if a person in receipt of death benefits under the occupational injuries scheme can avail of the living alone allowance; if not, if he will consider such a request; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53769/25

Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Social Protection the estimated cost in 2026 if the living alone allowance increased to €26 per week; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53848/25

Deputy Séamus McGrath asked the Minister for Social Protection if the living alone allowance will be increased in budget 2026 (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52686/25

Deputy Ryan O'Meara asked the Minister for Social Protection if his Department plans to increase the rate of for the living alone allowance payment; if not, if he will consider same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52593/25