Social welfare Ireland: TD says €12 dole rise in Budget 'not feasible' as row deepens
Nearly 13,500 people have been on Jobseekers Allowance for over five years, with nearly 5,000 on the payment for a decade or more, new figures have revealed.
It comes as the coalition is on yet another collision course over whether to increase pension rates and the social welfare rates to the same extent during Budget 2026.
John Paul O'Shea, a Fine Gael TD and Chairman of the powerful Oireachtas Social Protection Committee, stated a €12 dole rise "will not be feasible" in October's budget as he said there is "no reason" why people should be on the payment for more than 12 months.
Last week, Tánaiste Simon Harris suggested that he was "not convinced that you need to see as significant a rise in the dole as you do on the pension, for example, at the time when our country's in full employment and there's lots of supports out there for people getting into work".
However, speaking in Japan, Taoiseach Micheál Martin warned against creating distinctions and said that Fine Gael had never proposed the idea of differing increases.
This is despite senior Fine Gael sources confirming to the Irish Mirror that it was put forward by then Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys as an option.
New figures provided to the Irish Mirror by the Department of Social Protection confirmed that 46,940 people had been on Jobseeker's Allowance for more than one year.
Some 9,809 people have been receiving the payment for between two and three years, while 5,066 people have been on Jobseekers for three to four years. Another 2,784 people have been receiving the weekly payment for four to five years.
In total, 13,391 people have been on Jobseekers for more than five years. Of these, 8,487 people have been in receipt of it for more than five years, while 4,904 have been classified as unemployed for a decade or more.
Deputy O'Shea, Fine Gael TD for Cork North-West and chair of the Oireachtas Social Protection Committee, told the Irish Mirror that "there is no reason why people should be on Jobseekers for longer than 12 months".
When asked if he agreed with the Tánaiste's suggestion that social protection rates and pensions did not need to be increased at the same rate as part of Budget 2026, he said, "Absolutely".
He continued: "We obviously went and gave everyone on social welfare benefits €12 of [an] increase last year. I don't think that is feasible this year, given the conversations we've had only last week in terms of trying to fund the [third level] student contribution fee as part of Government next year.
"A €1 increase [to social welfare payments] would actually pay for the whole of the entire student contribution fee that's required.
"I don't [know] why we should be prioritising job seekers who are on Jobseekers for over 12 months, and not to mention five years or 10 years, on the basis of the other requirements we have to fund within budget."
At a press conference on Monday following the Government's Competitiveness Summit, Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers declined to wade into the potential budget clash between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
He said: "[Social Protection] Minister [Dara] Calleary will obviously examine the different supports that exist in the social protection system and how best to prioritise that in the context of Budget 2026.
"One component is obviously Jobseekers. There's Disability Allowance, Carers and obviously pension supports as well.
"It's within that context that he'll have to assess what the relative increases will be as part of next year's budget.
"But it will be in a different fiscal context than we've seen in previous years, and that means every minister will have to prioritise the increased supports they want to see for different areas that they're responsible for."
Join our Dublin Live breaking news service on WhatsApp. Click this link to receive your daily dose of Dublin Live content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
For all the latest news from Dublin and surrounding areas visit our homepage.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Journal
6 hours ago
- The Journal
Tánaiste says any gardaí showing 'brazen' disregard for roads policing 'letting colleagues down'
ANY GARDAÍ WHO have shown a 'brazen' disregard for roads policing are 'seriously letting their colleagues down', Tánaiste Simon Harris has said. The Fine Gael leader was responding to comments by Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, about a report that found some gardaí showed a 'blatant disregard' for roads policing duties while they knew their actions were being reviewed. The Journal / YouTube It comes amid a focus on road safety in Ireland, with the Government introducing new speed laws and after the Garda Commissioner mandated that frontline gardaí dedicate 30 minutes of road policing duties per shift. Simon Harris said he did not want to 'tar any one group with one brush', and said he has the utmost respect for gardaí. 'Indeed, it's not that long since we were at a funeral of a member of An Garda Síochána killed while on road traffic policing duties,' he said at Government Buildings. 'Having said that, I am concerned with what I've heard, and I'd like to be in a position to read it. So I think it's important that what the commissioner said he intends to do does happen, that he publishes the report so that we can actually see this and analyse it directly. 'Because any member of An Garda Siochana who is acting in the way that the commissioner outlined is seriously letting their colleagues down in the first instance, colleagues who work every day to keep us safe and would absolutely be undermining our road safety efforts in this country. 'There are far too many empty seats at far too many kitchen tables in Ireland. We've worked extremely hard as a country, I don't just mean as a government, as a country, to improve road safety over many years. 'That progress had stalled in recent years and indeed we'd seen a negative trend, and this is disappointing and concerning. 'But I think it's important that we have the opportunity to see the report, rather than to comment on a comment about the report.' Advertisement Asked if he was surprised that a member of government had not seen the report, considering the policing authority had seen the report in June, he said: 'I am somewhat, but I haven't had an opportunity to discuss this with colleagues in government yet, and I'd obviously like to discuss it in the first instance with the Minister of Justice.' Sean Canney, a junior minister with responsibility for road safety, said the reported findings were 'shocking' and 'serious'. 'There's no point in us bringing in laws, reducing speed limits, doing all of this kind of thing, if we don't have a functional enforcement section within the Gardaí,' he said on RTE Radio. Canney said his thoughts were with the families of the 95 people who had died on Irish roads so far this year. He said he had not read the report from consultancy firm Crowe, which has carried out investigations on behalf of An Garda Síochána previously, but planned to meet Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan and both the outgoing and incoming Garda commissioners. 'I'll be talking to the commissioners to express my deep concern with what is in this report,' he said. He said the independent Crowe report was conducted while the reviewer was 'sitting in the car with a garda that wasn't doing his duty and didn't seem to have a problem with that'. 'So I think there is definitely a serious case to be answered here as quickly as possible.' Harris said he commissioned the examination after he received an anonymous report from a whistleblower. The chairwoman of the Policing and Community Safety Authority, Elaine Byrne, said the report was 'shocking' and found some gardaí showed a 'blatant disregard' for road policing while they knew their actions were being reviewed. 'They were openly hostile to doing their job,' she said, in what she described as a 'wake-up call' for An Garda Siochana. She also described an issue with fear among Garda managers of carrying out poor performance management, which she said Harris agreed was an issue.
RTÉ News
12 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Harris says Govt 'not rowing back' on hospitality VAT cut
Tánaiste Simon Harris has said he is "not rowing back" on Programme for Government commitments to cut the hospitality VAT rate despite saying the timing of any measure will be decided on budget day. Speaking to reporters at Government Buildings, the Tánaiste said while the cut will be the "subject of budget negotiations", the Programme for Government has made "clear commitments" in relation to the matter. Last week, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe indicated that while the hospitality VAT rate cut from 13.5% to 9.5% is still planned, introducing the measure in autumn's budget would take up almost two thirds of the available tax reduction space. In the immediate aftermath of the remark, a number of Government sources indicated that the hospitality VAT rate cut could now be delayed until next summer - a move understood to be supported by some in Fianna Fáil but opposed by Fine Gael. Asked about the possible delay to the tax cut, which business groups say is needed in order to protect jobs, Tánaiste Simon Harris said "the timing of any measure will be a matter for budget day". However, when asked if he is "rowing back" on his previous position in early summer that the tax cut commitment was a "solemn" promise, he added: "I'm not rowing back on anything, but I suppose I'm being respectful to the budgetary process. "The Programme for Government says what it says. I believe the Programme for Government is very important, it's a contract between two political parties and some Independent TDs, and therefore I believe the words in it matter. "It talks about reducing the cost base for small businesses, particularly in the hospitality sector around food. And we'll work our way through that." The Tánaiste repeated his position that he is "not going to get into specific budget measures or the timing, other than to say all of this can be discussed in the round". However, he said that "towards the end of the summer" Government intends "to take stock again" in relation to the potential impact of international trade and tariffs deals, "and then we'll reserve the right to finesse the summer economic statement as required".
The Irish Sun
13 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Ireland would be in ‘much worse position' without EU-US trade deal, says Harris in avoided tariff ‘catastrophe' claim
A SWATHE of tariffs imposed on other nations show Ireland would be worse off if there was not an EU-US trade deal, Simon Harris claims. US president Donald Trump signed an executive order that sees tariffs of 15 per cent or above imposed on trading partners including Brazil, Lesotho, Taiwan and Switzerland. Advertisement 2 The deal sees 15 per cent tariffs on most EU goods Credit: Alamy Live News 2 Harris reckons Ireland would be a 'much worst position' if there was no deal Credit: � 2025 PA Media, All Rights Reserved The There are 'zero for zero' tariffs on a number of products including aircraft, some agricultural goods and certain chemicals - as well as EU purchases of US energy worth 750 billion dollars over three years. Advertisement READ MORE ON IRISH NEWS But the He claimed: 'Without a deal between the US and the EU, today would have seen 30 per cent tariffs introduced by President Trump on the EU, and would also have seen very, very significant counter measures introduced by the EU to the tune of around 90 odd billion euro. 'There's absolutely no doubt that that would have been a moment of catastrophe in terms of our economic wellbeing as a country.' He added: 'We'd be in a very different and a much worse position I think if we were standing here today with no deal. Advertisement Most read in The Irish Sun Breaking 'You don't have to take my word for that, if you just see the executive order last night and all of the tariffs levelled in other countries, including countries that didn't have deals. 'They were generally much, much higher than the tariff rate for the European Union.'
