Social Welfare Payments
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-07
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Louise O'Reilly (SF), Dublin Fingal West

I thank the Minister of State for the reply. I do not mean this disrespectfully but when I have asked a question about the telephone allowance, it is probably not helpful for anyone listening in who might be conscious of the issue of the telephone allowance that the Minister of State listed other payments. We understand that there were modest increases in the budget. They did not keep pace with inflation. He will know, as I do, that inflation was running at 1.8% when the Government wrote its budget and it is now at 3.6%. That has doubled and that has pushed people who are dependent on social welfare even further into poverty.
The Minister of Stat referred to "over 164,000 customers" in his reply. It is only 164,000 customers and we are not talking about large numbers. Increasingly, private care companies are shifting online to a more visual check-in with clients. That is not something that I necessarily support. In fact, I campaigned against it when I was a trade union organiser representing home helps. Much as I do not think it is good for either workers or older people, that is the direction of travel. Increasingly, older people are finding themselves in a situation where access to mobile data is not optional; it is essential for them to live their lives. The existence of the telephone support allowance is to ensure that people remain connected, can participate and are not further isolated, but if it is not updated, it will leave a significant cohort of people out.
I welcome the fact that consideration will be given to it as part of the budgetary process and I thank the Minister of State for bringing my remarks back to the senior Minister.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-07/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:46+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-07