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needs. In addition to those primary payments, we also provide a range of other payments that are considered secondary in nature. The living alone allowance is one of those secondary payments. It is not a scheme or stand-alone payment but rather a supplement to certain primary social … advocacy groups around this. The data shows the cost of living for a single person is more than the individualised cost of two people living together, as the Deputy said. For this reason, the living alone allowance is available to those in receipt of qualifying payments. Any future

Minister to increase the living alone allowance in recognition of the significantly lower income available to qualifying single income householders relative to couples. It is widely acknowledged that the household costs and cost-of-living challenges for people living alone are quite significant. When we compare a couple … example, versus a single income household, there is quite a significant difference. The living alone allowance is designed to bridge that gap but, unfortunately, it does not go anywhere near enough. I ask the Minister to please consider this increase in the upcoming budget

week in basic payments or, indeed, a contributory pension plus qualified adult is up to €500. However, for someone on disability allowance living alone, his or her basic payment is €254. The household costs for that individual are very similar. Many household costs are unrelated to the number … mortgage payments. Indeed, many utility bills have flat rates, so they are not really dependent on usage to a great extent. The living alone allowance is designed to bridge that gap but I would strongly argue that it needs to increase. I welcome the increases over recent years

particularly vulnerable people. We need equal access to treatment regardless of ability to pay. It has to be based on medical needs alone. We are completely out of step and in the Dark Ages compared with the rest of Europe, including countries that are much poorer than … extra in a cost-of-living payment for disability. There was €300 extra in fuel allowance in one payment alone. The living alone allowance was up €300. Electricity credits were up €200 each time. There was €230 extra on the basic Christmas bonus. Last October, there

indicate that over 100,000 people are potentially in poverty. The vast majority of those would be individuals living alone. Again, the living alone allowance is designed to help support those. I welcome it but, again, I am reiterating the point that it does need to be increased … number of people in the property. As a constituency TD, similar to the Minister, many of the requests we get are from people living alone in terms of the difficulties they face in meeting daily costs and running a household. I appreciate the Minister's response. Again

Deputy Séamus McGrath asked the Minister for Social Protection to increase the living alone allowance in recognition of the significantly lower income available to qualifying single householders relative to couples. [15159/26

from our day-to-day experience with our own families, but also from our constituencies, that the cost and the cliff for those living alone, particularly those who have suffered bereavement or separation, is particularly tight. We are very conscious of that. That is why there has been … allowance, which we increased in budget 2026. A person who is in receipt of a pension and who qualifies for the living alone and fuel allowances also receives the telephone support, which is an extra €2.50 per week. We look again at the costs on a 2026 basis

sight. In one of my offices alone, in the last week there have been 15 notices to quit. That is just in a few days. Investment funds should not be permitted to bulk buy family homes full stop. Homes are for living in, not for speculating, stockpiling … squeezing profit out of hard-working people. Across Mayo, I am hearing the real-life consequences of allowing vulture funds to outbid ordinary couples. They are bulk buying homes that should be available to young people who are hoping to start their lives and families together. Any home

will point out in the context of budget 2026, however, that €12 billion has been allocated for pension payments. Many people who are living alone are predominantly pensioners. That €12 billion is an increase of just over €700 million from the 2025 Revised Estimates. The investment in pensions … went for a weekly increase in the overall pension rate and across all the weekly welfare payment rates. We increased the fuel allowance in the context of energy costs and the weekly rate of the fuel allowance. We also expanded the fuel allowance this year for the first

significant than that, at the core of this Bill, is nothing short of a vicious financial assault on private renters who are already living in the most expensive and insecure form of housing in the State. The consequence of this legislation over a relatively short period of time … bigger effect outside Dublin, the impact in the first year alone will be an extra €3,500 in rent. In Galway city, where the gap is the largest, the Minister is proposing to allow landlords to charge up to an additional €4,500 in rent a year

gone up €100,000 in four years alone. In the past year, they have gone up €32,000. Is the Government listening to young people? Is it listening to young people who are telling me or my colleagues that their lives are being put on hold and that … policies of the Government, such as the policy it voted for last night - it had promised it would not do so - to allow vulture funds to bid against these same people who want to purchase their homes, are doing one thing only, and that is pushing up house

listen to people's opinions and come to a conclusion on the matter in a fairly urgent manner. This is urgent; we cannot allow what is happening to continue because it will just multiply. I describe it as being like a virus that gallops through people … victims will have had to put up with, live with and dodge the existence of such images for years. Technology is enabling non-consensual harm. In that context, the burden should not fall on the victims to fight back alone. That is why we are here. Stronger safeguards

about all the things they cannot do and all the ways that their lives are impacted. It is leaving people in unsafe living conditions with damp and mould. There are cases where people cannot escape a bad family situation because they have nowhere to go and no resources … Bill represents a false solution. That is crystal clear in the simple fact that part of the goal of this Bill is to allow rents to continue to rise. We are faced with market-driven solution after market-driven solution. I know we are given the message back

that prices are too high, yet they are rising higher and higher year after year under his Government. In just four years alone, prices have jumped by €100,000 across the State. How can you stand over this? To buy a typical home in Dublin now requires … plan their lives. They watch their 30s slip away while prices surge further out of reach. They feel locked out not because they have failed but because the system has failed them. This is a social emergency now. Just last night, the Government voted to allow vulture funds

fisheries sector, for the nearly 17,000 people who work in it, who are just trying to do their best, make a living and support their communities, is completely swimming against the tide at this point. I will speak on two deeply connected issues affecting our coastal communities … catastrophic for Ireland. That agreement will result in an estimated €94 million in losses for the fishing industry in Ireland in 2026 alone. The second issue is the recent announcement of a €27 million investment under the fishery harbour and coastal infrastructure development programme. Both these issues

modern Ireland. For years, we watched technology outpace our laws but today it is outpacing our own sense of human dignity. We are living in an era where nudification has become a service and predators do not even need a camera to destroy a life. All they need … design. Grok is not alone in the production of this material. Merlio AI, Soulgen, nudify-online, undress AI, DreamGF, deepnude.cc, Promptchan AI and Candy.ai all facilitate nudification tools. One video generation tool, owned by the Chinese giant Alibaba, allows for this material to be created. It allows anybody

accept that inflation hits the least well-off the hardest. That is why the Government has been so proactive in introducing cost-of-living packages and attempting to ease burdens on households and businesses. While the annual rate of inflation last year averaged 2.1%, which is down from … part of budget 2026, the Government took action and provided significant supports to enhance energy affordability, including an increase to the fuel allowance, as well as broadened eligibility for the payment; an extension of the reduced VAT rate of 9%, which is applied to gas and electricity

children. Today, however, I want to talk about one particular group that faces massive barriers when it comes to accessing housing or living with the risk of homelessness. I refer to one-parent families. Since becoming a TD, time and again I have heard the stories of single … their jobs, their children and the pressing need to find and keep a roof over their heads, and they are doing it all alone. Focus Ireland found that 57% of homeless families in this country are one-parent families. One of the parents interviewed for that report

involved in killings. The British state knew, and it protected him. It allowed violence to continue in order to preserve operational advantage. Victims were not warned, families were left in the dark, lives were treated as expendable. This was not an error. It was not a failure … persistence have been extraordinary. They engaged with Kenova in good faith, often at immense personal cost, reliving the most traumatic moments of their lives in the hope, not the certainty, of truth. All families are entitled to truth, justice and acknowledgement. That is not a political demand

intelligence and the prioritisation of operational advantage over human life, which is all directly relevant to the understanding of how such atrocities were allowed to occur. More than 50 years later, not one single person has been held to account in respect of the Dublin-Monaghan bombings. Reports … clarity for the Hayes family as to whether a full investigation file was ever sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions. That uncertainty alone speaks volumes about the inadequacy of the investigation. As in other cases, questions arose about access to intelligence, forewarning and whether lines of inquiry

older people are coming to our attention. In my area there is an eviction tsunami. A couple of months ago, in Dublin 15 alone, 115 families had registered with the local council that they had notices of termination. They are just the ones who told the council … time. That is what is facing people. I absolutely despair for young people now. I was talking to an American who has lived here for a year and they cannot believe the housing crisis in this country. They are just gobsmacked by the lack of action

drain. Now a farmer is afraid to make one because someone from the fisheries authorities or Department might say it is not allowed. Councils used to deal with a certain number of drains but now it is the case that if there is a bush, they will … head the water was up higher on the far side of the road. That is frightening for anyone, and those good people live an ordinary life. They do not want to be saying anything or shouting or roaring, but the reality is that if that bank had pushed

fulfil the Programme for Government commitment to examine improvements to key ancillary benefits, such as the fuel allowance, household benefits package and living alone allowance, to support vulnerable groups. [12594/26

Deputy Séamus McGrath asked the Minister for Social Protection to increase the living alone allowance in recognition of the significantly lower income available to qualifying single householders relative to couples. [15159/26

receipt of disability-related social welfare payments, including disability allowance and invalidity pension, and who are medically assessed or otherwise deemed to be at risk of falls or living alone; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15390/26