Social Welfare Payments Dail Éireann — 2022-05-17 ============================================================ Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (FF), Carlow-Kilkenny I agree with the previous speakers. I am concerned that the figures the Minister has given for exceptional needs payments are extremely low. In my area I have met people who find it very hard to get that payment to purchase a boiler, fridge or washing machine. That needs to be looked at seriously. We all know that places were closed during the pandemic. Accessing welfare became a burden for people. This needs to be addressed. I am finding that people are not getting their payments and we must ask why that is the case. The people who apply for it are the most vulnerable in our community. A fridge, washing machine and freezer are a must, like heating. The figures are low and I am worried about that. Can we get the correct figures, or whatever figures are available? --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2022-05-17/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:50:27+00:00 Sitting date: 2022-05-17