Major €506 Child Benefit & €25 welfare hike alert for Budget 2026 amid ‘important most vulnerable not forgotten' warning
Finance Minister
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Micheal Martin has ruled out a repeat of 2025's €2.6 billion cost-of-living boon
Credit: 2025 PA Media, All Rights Reserved
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Susanne Rogers believes social welfare rates should increase to prevent vulnerable people being left behind
While Taoiseach
It is understood Government leaders have agreed to eliminate one-off payments such as energy credits and
But where does that leave those hardest hit by the
Here, Susanne Rogers, of Social Justice Ireland, says
READ MORE ON BUDGET 2026
AS talk of
A policy of one-off cost-of-living measures in recent budgets may have provided temporary relief to low-income households, but even with those measures, almost 12 per cent of the population (630,000 people) are living below the
Without those one-off measures, more than 758,600 people would be living in poverty.
Most read in The Irish Sun
Government must use
SOCIAL WELFARE
: Government made many promises in the Programme for Government.
Give me a break' - Watch shock moment Simon Harris & Pearse Doherty clash in fiery spat over cost-of-living crisis
Key among them is the commitment to deliver progressive budgets, meaning that those on the lowest incomes are protected.
The Minister for Social Protection must benchmark social welfare rates to 27.5 per cent of average weekly earnings.
This requires a €25 increase in weekly
This is even more critical in light of the increases to essentials such as rent, energy costs and food prices.
ELDERLY STRUGGLING
OLDER PEOPLE
: More than 106,000 older people struggled to make ends meet in 2024, an increase of 64 per cent in a year.
Without the temporary measures, one in five older people would have been living below the poverty line.
This highlights how vulnerable older people are, due to their reliance on a fixed
Contributory and Non-Contributory Pensions by €25 per week and universalise the payment, while increasing the living alone allowance by €10 per week.
HIGH RISK OF POVERTY
FUEL ALLOWANCE
: Increase this by €10 per month and extend the payment to those receiving the Working Family Payment.
This also unlocks secondary benefits such as access to retro-fitting grants.
DISABILITY
: The Programme for Government makes welcome commitments on a cost of
The group with the highest risk of poverty and some of the highest rates of deprivation are those unable to work due to long-term illness or disability.
To deliver on its promise, Budget 2026 should introduce a cost of disability allowance at €20 a week.
BOOST FOR CARERS AND CHILDREN
CARERS
: Carers provide a huge service to the State.
There are over 299,000 people in Ireland providing unpaid care each week, an increase of 53 per cent in six years.
To acknowledge and support them, at the very minimum, Government must expand the Free
It must increase the annual Carer's Support Grant to €2,150, implement an independent review of Carer's Allowance, increase Domiciliary Care Allowance to €385 per month, and pilot a Universal Basic Services and a Universal Basic Income Scheme for Carers at a cost of €10million, in line with the Programme for Government Commitment to a Carers Guarantee.
KEY ROUTE
CHILDREN
: Child benefit remains a key route to tackling child poverty.
In 2024, more than 190,000 children in Ireland were living in poverty, a statistic that should shock us all.
Government should increase Child Benefit by €506, increase the Child Support Payment for under-12s by €6 and for those aged 12 and over by €15.
It should also introduce an additional two weeks' paternity and
Life on a low income is the norm for a large number of people in Ireland. But it shouldn't be.
Government must use Budget 2026 to change this trend and improve the standard of living for vulnerable households.
The first step is setting adequate social welfare rates.
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