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10th Feb 2022

Government measures to address rising living costs won’t meet all the public’s needs, Minister admits

Stephen Porzio

Michael McGrath said he believes they will make “some positive difference”, however.

Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath has said Government measures to address the rising cost of living will not be able to meet all of the public’s needs.

However, he added that he did believe that they would make “some positive difference”.

The Minister made the comments as the Government is set to announce a new package to ease pressure on the public caused by rising living costs later on Thursday (10 February).

It has been already reported that the package will include a mix of both targeted and universal measures.

It is expected that one of them will include a rise in the electricity credit to each household, possibly doubling it to €200.

Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast, McGrath began by acknowledging that “so many people” across Ireland are currently struggling with rising costs, particularly energy costs.

He said the Government needs to intervene but in “a careful way”, in order to avoid driving inflation even higher.

“The overall assessment from economists generally is that inflation will moderate. It will reduce as the year goes by,” he explained.

“But that’s no consolation to people today who are going to the petrol pump or who are having to pay an electricity or gas bill.

“So, I think it’s a combination here of trying to ensure that whatever we decide can be implemented quickly, as in within the coming weeks, and also recognising that while many people who are on welfare are really, really struggling and definitely need targeted help, there are people above those income levels who are also struggling who might have a high mortgage or childcare costs and travel costs to work.

“There will be a universal element but there also needs to be a targeting of resources to people who genuinely need it the most.”

The Minister was then asked about criticism that some members of the public would receive supports that do not need them.

“There will be certainly some people who don’t need it who will get it, I would acknowledge that,” McGrath responded.

“It is universal in nature but there is also a need to balance that against the fact that anything that is targeted requires time to implement.

“You need the systems in place to administer it.”

On what people can expect from the package, the Minister said the Government’s intervention will be of a “significant scale” but that he did not believe it could be termed a “mini-budget”.

“It is not a budget. I don’t believe it is a mini-budget either but it will be the Government spending more money,” he explained.

“The only money that we have is the money we collect from taxpayers and the money we borrow on behalf of taxpayers.

“We had a deficit last year of close to €9 billion.

“We have to be careful on how we use public money and while we balance that against a reality that people are under pressure, we do recognise that the current inflationary cycle that we’re in, it won’t last forever.

“The forecast is that it will ease in the months ahead. We don’t want to do anything that makes the situation worse.

“We don’t want to end up chasing and ultimately driving inflation to a higher level and that is the advice that we are receiving from an economic perspective.

“So what we will see today are a small number of measures that can be implemented quickly that will provide some relief to people, perhaps not as much as people would like or as much as many people will need.

“We acknowledge that the Government won’t be able to meet all of the needs that are there.

“But I think what we will announce today will make some positive difference.”

Main image via Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie

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