Issue 624

The Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys, TD, hosted the Department’s annual Pre-Budget Forum in Farmleigh House on Wednesday.

Some of the proposals made by a number of groups represented at the Forum today included measures calling for:

A general increase of all Core Social Welfare Rates , including Pensions, Working Age and Disability related payments, by up to €20 per week.

• Extending the Fuel Allowance Season by 4 weeks and increasing the rate by €15 per week to support households with increasing energy costs.
• Increasing the Living Alone Allowance by up to €20 per week to target those living alone, who are at a higher risk of poverty.
• Further supporting households with an increase in the Household Benefits package by €5 per week.
• Together, these four proposals would cost an additional €2 billion in a full year.

Minister Humphreys told the Forum that the big challenge for Government will be how to balance these calls for improvements with how best to apply finite resources especially when faced with significant challenges in other areas, including Housing, Health and Education.

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This week, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath, and the Minister of State for eGovernment, Ossian Smyth,?launched a?public consultation?to gather views from individual users of public services.

This fulfils a commitment in?Connecting Government 2030, the Digital and ICT Strategy for Ireland’s Public Service,?which Minister McGrath and Minister of State Smyth introduced earlier this year. Rather than implementing assumptions made by those providing public services, government wants to consult with individual users of public services, to better understand their wants and preferences for digital public services....?Read more.

More about 'Connecting Government 2030: A Digital and ICT Strategy for Ireland’s Public Service'

The Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022, which was signed by the President and has become law, underpins Ireland’s shift from a “take-make-waste” linear model to a more sustainable pattern of production and consumption, that retains the value of resources in our economy for as long as possible and that will to significantly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

In a circular economy, waste and resource use are minimised. The use and value of products and materials is maintained for as long as possible. When a product has reached the end of its life its parts are used again and again – to create further useful products, instead of being discarded which is an all too familiar pattern now.

As it passed through the Dáil, the Act received broad cross-party support to introduce levies on all single-use packaging over time and where more sustainable alternatives are available and it comprises more social protections, including measures to protect low-income households and people with disabilities. The Act also ensures that we have a fit-for-purpose regulatory system in place – to allow hundreds of thousands of tonnes of material to be safely and sustainably re-used as secondary raw materials, which could be particularly important for the construction sector.

The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien TD, has welcomed the Government’s decision to approve a multi-annual grant-funding package of €186.3m of infrastructure investment for the Clonburris Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) Enabling Infrastructure Project in South Dublin. The Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF) is providing investment for the necessary infrastructure to develop a new town, Clonburris, located between Lucan, Clondalkin and Liffey Valley. The funding will enable over 8,700 homes to be built on the SDZ site, providing housing for an estimated 23,000 people.

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