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LAST UPDATE | 11 Feb 2022
THE GOVERNMENT HAS said that introducing more targeted supports for the rising cost of living would have risked excluding people.
Social justice groups have criticised the measures announced by the government last night, with one-parent family advocacy group One Family describing it as “a missed opportunity”.
“One Family had urged the government to choose targeted, sustainable measures, instead of short term, universal payouts,” CEO Karen Kiernan said last night.
“By giving a little back to everyone instead of targeted resources at those most in need, the most vulnerable will continue to suffer. Right now, more than one in every four one-parent families are living in consistent poverty.”
The central plank of the government’s package of measures is a once-off €200 credit that’s set to be included on on electricity bills from next month.
The rebate is set to cost over €400 million and is an increase on a previously announced €100 credit that had been approved before Christmas.
Other measures included a 20% cut in public transport fares from April, an additional €125 lump sum for Fuel Allowance receptions and an extra €20 per month on the Drug Payment scheme.
There were no changes to core social welfare or tax rates, with Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe saying such changes would only take place at Budget time.
The universal nature of the electricity rebate has been questioned by some advocacy groups who have pointed out that it will benefit people who are well-off by the same amount as those who are less well-off.
The Social Democrats have also argued that electricity bills for about 62,000 holiday homes will benefit from the rebate to the tune of €12.4 million that could have been spent elsewhere.
Defending the the government from criticism this morning, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Michael McGrath that seeking to make the rebate more targeted would have delayed it.
“You would spend perhaps a very long time designing a scheme that would seek to carve out and exclude a proportion of people who perhaps don’t need it. And I think speed of execution, getting this money to people quickly, we felt was imperative and that’s why we have designed it in this way and it will be applied in the March/April billing cycle,” McGrath told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
McGrath said that he personally would be make a donation to the St. Vincent de Paul to account for the rebate but that this “is a matter of for every individual”.
Asked whether holiday homes should benefit from the rebate, McGrath said that some holiday homes “have very large mortgages” and that the government “did not have a means of excluding holiday homes” as the rebate is on electricity bills that are administered by energy suppliers.
Another criticism of the package has been the decision not to widen the eligibility net for the Fuel Allowance. Asked about this, McGrath said this had been done in the last Budget and doing so again risked excluding people.
“Where you have eligibility criteria you will always have people who fall just on the wrong side of the eligibility criteria,” he said.
“Where you target measures, which we are doing here in respect of the Fuel Allowance, then you will have people who fall just outside criteria.”
Motorists
Asked last night about the decision not to reduce Motor Tax as well in addition to the reduction in public transport rate, Donohoe said it “would not be appropriate” to make a taxation decision outside of a Budget Day.
“For those who are I know experiencing great difficulty with the rising cost of fuel. Whether it be in their car, whether it be in heating their home, this is the guiding reason behind the electricity rebate that has been brought forward,” he said.
This decision has been criticised by rural politicians, with independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice describing the government’s plan as “anti-rural and anti-motorist”.
“While the measures announced are welcome, the package as a whole offers little to nothing for those living in rural Ireland who have no other choice but to get in their car in the morning and commute to work,” he said.
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Unthinkable
Tess and Danny, I hope you get the support you need. I offer my condolences to you and your family. And wish you both well.
Impossible to understand how it would feel to loose a child
Other members of the Filipino community (while feeling sorry for them) are wondering how they spent all the money on a wake! Obviously more to the story…
BTW the translator in the interview was adding to their responses.
@Towger: I would most of it went towards flyers my her body home rather than the wake.
@Lisa Saputo: I know of two families who have repatriated a body from Ireland to the Philippines in the last couple of years. One paid 18k the other ~20k. The story is that the Filipino Embassy in London actually paid in this case. But even if they did not, receive 140k, Revenue takes 52%, it costs 25k (inc passenger tickets) to fly home. 42k left for the wake and burial, which is normally not much different from a Catholic Irish one, with the local equivalent of tea, biscuits and sandwiches. Then there is a Months Mind (40 days) later. Don’t know how it went on for a month!! There must have been strangers queuing for a gawk, gossip and dinner.
@Lisa Saputo: You can buy a decent/modest middle class house in the Philippines for 40k
This country is awash with psychopaths , most are able to contain it in some fashion. Obviously not Mark.
RIP Justine
@Mr Jerry Curtin: Unfortunately mostly caused by drug use – shame on anyone calling for legalisation of drugs.
@Toby Thedogk: shut up you utter nob
@Toby Thedogk: Do you have any idea how many deaths are caused as a result of alcohol?? A hell of a lot more than drugs.
@FrustratedASDMum: Please let me know – breakdown the murders and self inflicted. Alcohol should be more closely regulated as well.
@FrustratedASDMum: Any statistics to back that up?
Any idea on how many people are admitted to psych units due to habitual use of narcotics!?
@Toby Thedogk: you’re grossly ignorant of reality but console yourself by knowing you aren’t alone.
Journal: it is wrong to post a photo of that murderer. It is disrespectful to the victim’s family.
Very sad to lose a child. Must be devastating. But, why did they spend most of the money on a wake?
@Philomena Stack: the Filipinos like to party as much as the irish
@Philomena Stack: Flying her body home probably cost a lot. I think there’s a problem with the translation there.
Awful. That poor family. At least they saw the culprit get swift summary justice. Some consolation.
@alan doyle: they were pretty specific about his death being hard for them to take. They wanted to know why. The fact that he died so soon robbed them of a chance to find out.
have your say