Social Welfare Payments
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-26
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Dara Calleary (FF), Mayo

I will certainly take on board the Deputy's request. He is definitely in early but there were other Deputies even in ahead of him this morning for budget 2027 priorities.
I 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, as we discussed at committee yesterday, is nearly 42% of the Department’s overall allocation. In terms of the choices we had to make, this year we 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 time to working families. As I said, that kicks in from this week. We have made the changes. It is very focused on targeted areas. I hear the Deputy, however, and I hear him in the context of budget 2027. Perhaps he might have a good chat with our colleague, the Minister for public expenditure, in relation to that too.

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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