Social Welfare Code
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-24
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Eoin Hayes (SD), Dublin Bay South

I completely understand. The Minister trots out this line that he is keeping up with inflation or surpassing inflation. However, all the research would suggest - this is something put out by the European Union and the OECD - that the lower income populations have a higher rate of inflation because, as a proportion of their income or their costs, they often have to pick more expensive options. Whether it is pay-as-you-go electricity meters, not buying food in bulk or otherwise, a lot of things are really hard for those people. The Government is making an argument in the run-up to this budget that there should be indexation of tax measures. I think that is worth considering, but if that is true, we should also be looking at the indexation of other things. We should be looking at the indexation of income disregards and things like social protection payments. In particular, older people have been calling for a very long time for pensions to be indexed, but it is not something this Government or any previous Government has seriously taken up. I would like the Minister to consider this. If the Government is making an argument about indexation on one side - on tax - should it be making the same argument on social protection?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-24/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:50+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-24