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shocking but not surprising, but that is where we are. People are genuinely shocked that in the middle of the worst cost-of-living crisis for a generation there is yet another budget that will mean they will be worse off next year than they were last year … this Government and there are sky-high petrol and diesel costs. What seems to be lost on Government is that the cost-of-living crisis is actually getting worse. There was no acknowledgement of that in this budget. Hard-working people on ordinary incomes are being squeezed

Minister will confirm the arrangements as soon as possible, and I know negotiations are under way in relation to it. The cost of living remains a big pressure on households. Families feel it at the checkout, at the pump and, indeed, as the bills arrive. The budget makes … carer’s allowance; and the increase for the care and repair scheme. These will make a real difference to people. Clearly, cost-of-living pressures need to be kept under review. If the international situation deteriorates further, more support will be needed

reduce the cost of childcare and enable workers to take home more of their hard-earned pay. It will also ease the cost-of-living and cost-of-energy pressures on households across the country. It is very disappointing to listen to the Opposition endlessly discuss the cost

There is no one in this House who does not acknowledge the cost-of-living crisis. What is different is that the Government is trying to address the cost of living. What the Government will do, and there will be no spinning

people on disability allowance should have seen their payment increase by €25. They also needed immediate lump sums because the cost-of-living crisis is happening right now. Sinn Féin called for a cost-of-living package to be delivered this year, a €300 lump sum for social

households listening in today to hear about the budget, hoping against hope that they will finally get some relief from the suffocating cost of living they are experiencing, and from the extortionate energy costs they are being crushed by. This budget has ignored them. Their cries for support … there remains a huge group of low- and middle-income families who are left behind. These families are not insulated from the cost-of-living crisis. They are working hard, paying their bills and still struggling every month, yet there is nothing in this budget that will make

Fine Gael Ministers and lobbyists and outmanoeuvred by those clamouring for tax cuts. Instead of keeping up with inflation and the cost of living or lifting people out from under water, the Government has chosen to plunge the heads of the poor back under it. A €10 increase … budget and, indeed, every budget should be progressive and focused on those of the coalface of poverty, deprivation, social exclusion and the cost-of-living crisis. Sadly, today we find that the Government has not delivered that kind of budget and has not delivered for the millions

State. There is nothing new to dramatically tackle climate change across our communities and nothing new to permanently reduce the cost of living. This budget is clearly about more of the same. Instead, the Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael arrangement has allowed the situation to fester whereby thousands … strike to rightly seek wage increases. These are wage increases that are, effectively, chasing rising rents, rising commuting costs and a rising cost of living in large part because the Government has failed to invest in housing and in enough public transport. You do not need

Last year's budget was an assault on families and made the situation much worse for most households. The removal of the cost-of-living supports meant income losses across all income groups, with the biggest cuts for the poorest 10%. The freeze on income tax bands … election. It found €2.2 billion down the back of the sofa to attempt to buy the election with a cost-of-living package, including double payments in October and at Christmas and lump sums for recipients of fuel allowance, child benefit, carer's allowance and the living alone

rule because the Government has refused to offer them a pay rise that would allow them to keep up with the current cost-of-living crisis. I fully support them. Over the past few days, I have talked to many public sector workers in Donegal, including members … with a decent offer that keeps up with the pace of inflation so that public sector workers can get through the current cost-of-living crisis

fund a €400 energy credit for low-to-middle income households. These are households that are being squeezed the hardest by the cost-of-living crisis that we are all experiencing. They are hit with price increase after price increase right across the board, while energy companies continue … extraordinary profits go untouched is not inevitable; it is a political choice made by the Government. The energy crisis and the wider cost-of-living crisis are squeezing families from every direction. I see that in my constituency where some of the most deprived areas in the whole

commend my colleague, Deputy Whitmore, on this motion, as well as on her broader work on the cost of living and a just transition. One statistic in this motion should stop us in our tracks, namely, that 323,559 households were in electricity arrears … less exposed to the price of imported gas. That is climate policy, it is energy security and increasingly it is basic cost-of-living policy

clocking up further day by day, just as the electricity meters are, as people who are under pressure from the cost-of-living crisis watch them at home. The Minister of State spoke immediately about this being affected by external markets and geopolitical forces. We are all aware … young families who do not know how they are going to pay their bills and everyone who is suffering from the soaring cost-of-living crisis, the Government is not offering any decent solutions. We have put forward an actual solution here but the Government in its countermotion

Families throughout the country are experiencing a severe cost-of-living crisis. In the teeth of this crisis, the Government withdrew all cost-of-living supports this year, leaving families as much as €1,400 worse off. The Government must now introduce a windfall profits tax on energy

First, we recognise the enormous pressure on families and pensioners because of the cost-of-living crisis, which was fundamentally brought about by two major wars, namely, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the 2026 Middle East conflict between the United States and Iran, which really has caused … ripples across the entire world in terms of energy prices and knock-on effects on the cost of living. Last year, we took very significant measures in the budget to protect the most vulnerable, including pensioners, and we will do similarly in the forthcoming budget next week. That

time when families are struggling with the cost of living and this Government keeps telling us that it is listening, I have to ask, who is it listening to? Is it listening to ordinary households or to the big CEOs? While families are struggling with the cost

essential to maintaining the financial sustainability of the network into the future; — since 2022, passengers have benefited from a 20 per cent cost of living fare reduction, extension of the 90-minute fare, a 50 per cent discount for Young Adults and Students, free travel for children under … fuel, vehicle maintenance and staff costs. In the same period, public transport fares have decreased through various measures, such as the 20% cost-of-living discount, the young adult card discount of 50% and the extension of free travel to all children under nine, which no one opposite

cost-of-living crisis and a climate crisis, one of the things that makes least sense is increasing the cost of public transport. However, that is a decision this Government has made. The Government could have chosen to invest further in public transport and encourage more people … Instead, the Government has decided to place another financial burden on individuals and families who are already struggling through a cost-of-living crisis, with public transport fares set to increase by an average of 15%. This will have a significant impact on those individuals and families

something that is not even really working and that we are not going to be able to sustain indefinitely. We have climate, cost-of-living and energy crises, yet the Government is slapping 15% onto public transport fares because the capital plan for transport is not worth … million per month at the moment and cutting public transport fares, or at the very least sustaining the reduction, is a cost-of-living support that puts money back in the pockets of ordinary workers, students and young people

want to get the detail right and will want to tease through that. I fully accept that we are living through a cost-of-living crisis and I fully accept that that it is real, but alongside that there is data from the CSO published only … However, I fully accept that this is not in any way being put forward by the Government as a response to the cost-of-living crisis but more actually to building up economic resilience over time for households

under the ETS2 derogation, but there is room to do stuff. There are lots of ways of helping people with energy and cost of living and some of them are not related to energy, such as things like income tax proposals and childcare costs. People do not look … Department did what. They look at the overall package that the Government brings forward and we will bring forward a range of cost-of-living measures next week

will not agree on all of it and that is fine and healthy but we agree that we are living through a cost-of-living crisis, that the cost of kerosene and energy is very high, that we need to look at measures to try to assist people … fuel allowance are also important to reach those most at risk of fuel poverty. Not everyone is at risk of that. The cost of living is real for lots of people but some people are acutely at risk of fuel poverty. Trying to reach them in the here

that 75% of carers receive no respite whatsoever and the grant itself has been eaten up by inflation not to mention the cost of living over the past number of years. If we look at the past number of years from 2021, we can see that there … which is a very modest increase that, in fact, does not keep up with inflation and does not take into account the cost of living. It is a very modest request and I ask the Minister to include it in the budget

being targeted by the Government to pay more. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have made a choice. In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, they have chosen now as a good time to hike up public transport fares - not by the rate of inflation, which … real impact on people's incomes at the best of times but to put that on people in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis is cruel. The Tánaiste has made a huge political play about the income tax changes that are due in the budget, which

damp conditions in houses that the State is responsible for are now being charged higher rents in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis because the Government has failed to fund councils sufficiently? Some 40% of council tenants are in poverty after they pay their rent. That … left living in mouldy and damp conditions with devastating impacts on their health? Will the Tánaiste make a real move on the cost-of-living crisis for these people, and will he give councils the funding required for maintenance so they do not have to increase rents

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the actions that have been taken to alleviate the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on students; if additional financial supports or targeted grant increases are being considered for the upcoming academic year; and if he will

plans to increase the capitation grant per child, for each school, to meet the growing demands on schools due to the rising cost of living; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17164/25

Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Finance if he will reverse his decision to abolish cost-of-living supports in the next Budget; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16153/25

national on a Stamp 2 is permitted to work from 20 hours to 30 hours per week given the rising cost of living; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14643/25

approved or are pending for former An Post employees; if he is satisfied that these increases are appropriate in view of the cost-of-living crisis and recent rates of inflation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8707/25

qualified through the direct route; if she is considering expanding the eligibility criteria to include all newly qualified teachers, given the high cost of living and specific challenges faced by teachers, such as those with medical conditions that limit their ability to drive; and if she will make

have a free reign to charge whatever they want when they want; her views on whether this is fair during a cost-of-living crisis; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6911/25

discretionary increase from its current income levels considering the high rents charged by landlords in Tipperary and other counties and the current cost-of-living. [5674/25

plans to introduce over the course of this Government; and if he will review the proposed increases in light of the cost-of-living crisis faced by many families, businesses and farmers and further to the fallout of storm Éowyn. [4904/25

pensioners; when these were last changed; if there are any plans to adjust them in light of the increase in the cost of living; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5456/25

Gibney asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform if reported plans (details supplied) to not have a cost-of-living package in Budget 2026 will affect existing supports such as the one-off social welfare bonuses in Budget 2025 and the domestic energy

pensioners have seen their council rents increase, by the same amount as their pensions were increased in Budget 2025 as a cost-of-living measure, as it is unacceptable that this money is being swallowed by council rents instead of being made available to pensioners to assist with

Finance if he is considering abolishing USC for workers earning less than €100,000 in order to help workers with increases in costs of living. [68656/26

outline any additional disability-related supports he is planning to introduce in the upcoming budget to help disabled people with the increasing costs of living; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46362/26

Protection if he is planning to introduce any emergency measures to help people with disabilities and their carers to cope with increasing costs of living; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31267/26

asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his Department is putting a fund in place to help offset the cost of live exports of animals in view of the extra cost incurred for vaccines and PCR tests for live exporters; and if he will make

upbringing, but currently receive no tax recognition despite having their children part-time and incurring substantial expenses including maintenance, travel, school-related costs, and living arrangements; if he will commit to reviewing the existing system which grants the full tax benefit to one parent only, often excluding

that will be introduced to reduce the costs of further and higher education for students and their families, taking into account increased costs of living over recent years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36897/25