Ministers hail coalition’s ‘wise’ spending and support for disadvantaged

By Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA

Ministers have defended the coalition Government’s record in bridging the gap between those on the highest salaries in Ireland and those who are struggling amid the cost-of-living crisis.

Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys and Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman said there is more the State can do to support people, but they argued the Government has made progress during its time in power.

Ms Humphreys said she believes the Government had targeted support to those most in need.

“We know we have more to do, there’s always more to do, and we will continue to look at the most vulnerable in this budget as we have done in the past,” she said.

“It has been a progressively good budget over the term of this Government, I would say.

“Every year we’ve seen unprecedented increases in social welfare payments, 24 euros over the past two years, that’s a considerable increase when you add all that on top of the lump sums where the data shows that we are keeping pace with inflation and in some cases ahead of it,” the Fine Gael TD for Cavan-Monaghan said.

Mr O’Gorman said he believes the Government had been “wise” in spending funds while also setting money aside in preparation for any possible economic downturn in the future.

He added there is no community in north Monaghan or in his own constituency of west Dublin where more could not be done for people.

“First thing to say is we can always do more and I think as politicians we always want to do more,” he said.

“You’re working within budgetary constraints. But I think we have done a very significant amount over the last four years.

“We’ve targeted investment in disadvantage, in terms of the work I’ve done in terms of Equal Start, for example, the DEIS model for early years; the work Heather has done in terms of supporting school meals in schools, initially DEIS schools, but then rolling it out more generally; the work I’ve done to make childcare affordable for all families, and the work I’ve spoken about earlier on in supporting families in those early years (education).

“But there is always more than we want to do and we have to work within the basis of our economy.

“The fact that we have an economy where we have very high levels of employment, where people are actually able to support themselves, and the fact that we have an economy that is delivering surpluses, we’re actually able to take some money and put it aside for those times that we know are coming in the future where there will be a dip in the economic cycle.

“We saw in the last recession, we saw the huge impact that that had on services and on incomes of the most vulnerable. We have money put aside now to deal with those cycles when they come.

“I think we’ve been wise in the approach that we’ve taken, but I think there’s always a desire by politicians to do more. I think particularly now, as we go towards the general election, each of the parties will be putting out their priorities for the next five years.

“But I think all three parties in this Government can show a very clear set of deliverables and a very clear set of improvements that we’ve made to public services over four-and-a-half years in Government.”