Social Welfare Payments
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-26
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Séamus McGrath (FF), Cork South-Central

I accept we are very early in terms of the budgetary cycle. I did raise this issue with the Minister last year. I appreciate he is under significant pressure in terms of what he can prioritise with the resources available to him. Again, however, I would strongly argue that this receives strong consideration and that is why I am flagging it at this early stage.
A couple who are both on the contributory pension have approximately €600 per 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 of people living there, for example, local property tax, house insurance and rent or 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 to €22 but the gulf is far greater, and it really does need to be increased in the upcoming budget.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-26/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:42+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-26