As the Deputy will be aware, pay-related benefits are designed to reward people who have worked hard all their lives, paid their PRSI and contributed to the system. Under the current scheme, the basic rate for both jobseeker's allowance and jobseeker's benefit is the same at €220, which means that someone who never worked a day gets the same rate of payment as someone who has worked, for example, for 20 years and has contributed to the system by paying PRSI. The current system does not distinguish between the perso…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." The purpose of this Bill is to give legislative effect to the payment in June of a bonus to recipients of child benefit. Just as the world emerged from the public health crisis caused by Covid-19, the war in Ukraine began. This, as well as the ensuing geopolitical instability, has caused an increase in inflation. The cost of living is particularly acute for parents of young families. The Government realises that it is an expensive time of year. Children have outgro…

I thank the Deputies for their contributions. I congratulate Deputy Ó Laoghaire on his new position as social protection spokesperson. I look forward to working with him. A few issues have been raised. On child maintenance, we accepted the group's recommendations regarding the social welfare system. We no longer assess child maintenance payments in the means test for social welfare schemes. I need to put legislation through for that but in the meantime we are applying it on an administrative basis. We are not takin…

Can it be taken now?

Maybe she thought it would take longer.

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I agree with her first point, that is, food prices have increased. Any person doing his or her weekly shop can see that clearly. I can see it myself. I was in a shop only yesterday and could see where the price of many products had increased, such as for example, nappy wipes. The consumer is looking for special offers but there are not as many special offers as there were. There are fewer items in the basket, yet it still costs more. I recognise that the cost of the weekl…

-----we will give a €100 bonus payment to every child on child benefit. This will be on top of the double child benefit that we paid last December. The Government is supporting working families. We are trying to put money back into the pockets, which is why we cut the income tax rate in January.

I am getting around to that.

I just want to make clear what we are doing to help people address the increase in the cost of living. There is a broad range of measures across the board. We have been trying to help people. We understand their concerns. The Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, got the retailers into a room and met them. Since then, we have suddenly started hearing that some supermarkets are cutting their prices.

Some have cut the price of bread.

Some have cut the price of butter. We want to see more of that. On top of that-----

The Deputies might laugh, but a woman or a grandmother like me knows why someone buys nappy wipes. It is because people need them if they have small children. The women who will get the extra €100-----

-----next month in their child benefit payments might appreciate it, so do not be laughing at that.

On top of that, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Coveney, is meeting the CCPC to discuss the retail sector. The Deputy knows we cannot set prices. Like last year, everyone wanted to scaremonger about the price of petrol and diesel, but their prices are back down now. This situation can be cyclical. However, we agree with the Deputy that the cost of living has increased. We are doing everything we can to address it. As I have said, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, is meeting with the Competitio…

We have been clear; there cannot be profiteering on the back of hard-pressed Irish shoppers. I absolutely agree with the Deputy on that. We cannot have that. Nothing is off the table. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, is considering a suite of measures, for example, more transparency on profits in Ireland, and is meeting with the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, which has powers to investigate whether there is price-gouging. That is its role. The Minister will be meeting with the commission next we…

I thank the Deputy for raising this. I agree with Deputy Bacik. The scenes in Dublin at the weekend were horrific. Burning people out of their tents are the actions of people who do not represent the vast majority of people in this country. The Deputy was absolutely correct when she said that there is an onus on every single one of us in this House to condemn these actions unreservedly. The situation we face is unprecedented. More than 100,000 people arrived here from Ukraine and other parts of the world over the l…

We are using barracks in Kilbride, Mullingar and Tralee, so we are certainly using assets that the Department of Defence has.

We are doing everything we can, but the point here is that more people have been coming. There has been a total of 100,000 arrivals in the last year, which is a lot of people. We have been working and dealing with this issue, but as the Deputy well knows, we need more accommodation and we are doing everything to achieve this. Almost 30,000 new homes were built in 2022, including almost 7,500 social homes or new builds, more than in any year in the last half century. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, updated the…

-----and I am glad to say that 12,500 Ukrainians who have come here are working and contributing to our economy. We want more of this. We want to help them to integrate into the community and to take up employment. I was in Roscommon on Thursday and I met Ukrainians there. The first thing they always say is "Thank You" to the Irish people for accommodating them. They are genuinely grateful for the help they have got. We are working with them through different programmes, such as the social inclusion and community a…

We are working on all the different angles and we are getting further accommodation, as I said earlier. We will be announcing it-----