‘Increase ALL weekly social welfare rates by €25’ Budget 2026 alert with €50 Child Benefit rise & new €80 monthly cash

ALL weekly social welfare rates must increase by €25 and be benchmarked to average earnings in the next Budget, an independent think-tank will tell an Oireachtas committee today.

The Dail welfare watchdog committee will also hear that the payment rate of jobseekers aged 18 and 24 must be increased to the full adult rate.

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Michelle Murphy, Research and Policy Analyst for the think-tank, said the rate “is currently inadequate to meet even the most basic of needs and must be increased to the full adult rate”.

Social Justice Ireland (SJI) is set to present its Budget priorities to the Joint Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development this morning.

Speaking to the Irish Sun about their proposals, Ms Murphy said: “A social welfare payment must provide an adequate safety net to lift people out of poverty and allow for a household to provide for a basic but decent standard of living.

“Even after the provision of social welfare payments, in 2024 there were almost 630,000 people in Ireland living below the poverty line.  

“Income adequacy cannot be addressed by one-off measures as has been the case in recent Budgets.

“Those reliant on social transfers need certainty.

“This is even more critical in light of sharp increases to essentials such as rent, food and heating costs.

“Even with falling rates of inflation, prices will remain high placing real pressures on household budgets.

“Recent Budgets have focused on temporary measures. What is needed is certainty and permanence for those reliant on social transfers.

“A €25 increase is required to benchmark core social welfare rates to 27.5 per cent of average earnings and to address the impact of continued inflation on low income households, bringing core payments to €269 a week in 2026.”

The committee, chaired by Fine Gael Cork North-West TD John Paul O’Shea, will be told that Government “must use Budget 2026 to fulfil the Programme for Government commitment to deliver progressive budgets by benchmarking social welfare rates to average earnings and increasing all weekly social welfare rates by €25″.

The call to increase the jobseekers payment for those aged 18 to 24 to the adult rate will cost roughly €54 million.

The group also want to see the introduction of a cost of disability allowance at €20 a week – €80 a month.

Ms Murphy told us: “Social Justice Ireland welcomed the commitment to a cost of disability support payment in the Programme for Government. 

CASH CALL

“To address the high rates of poverty and deprivation experienced by this group, the introduction of a cost of disability allowance at €20 a week at a cost of €228m in Budget 2026 should be prioritised and built upon in subsequent Budgets.”

There is also a call for an increase in the Domiciliary Care Allowance to €385 per month, along with the pilot of a Universal Basic Services and a Universal Basic Income Scheme for Carers in line with the Programme for Government Commitment to a Carers Guarantee.

Explaining this, Ms Murphy told us: “Carers provide a huge service to the State. According to the latest census data there are over 299,000 unpaid carers in Ireland providing unpaid care each week, an increase of 53 per cent in six years.

FAMILY HELP

“To acknowledge and support the work of carers in Ireland, at the very minimum in Budget 2026 Government must: Increase the Domiciliary Care Allowance to €385 per month at a cost of €17m. Pilot a Universal Basic Services and a Universal Basic Income Scheme for Carers at a cost of €10m in line with the Programme for Government Commitment to a Carers Guarantee.”

Social Justice Ireland also want to see more done in the area of child benefit.

They are urging the Government to Increase the payment by €50 – at a cost of €777 million – and increase Child Support Payments for those under 12 by €6 a week and €15 for those aged 12 and over, at a cost of €130 million.

An Increase the fuel allowance by €10 per month and extending it to including Working Family Payment recipients is also a part of their proposal.

Also included in the SJI proposals are a number of priorities for rural development and the community and voluntary sector.

The big ticket items include a €100m allocation to Regional Development and Transition in Budget 2026, an additional €25m to Enterprise Ireland to develop and support indigenous enterprises and job creation across the regions, and an additional €25m for Failte Ireland to promote island, local and regional tourism initiatives.

They also want to see the Government invest €5m to establish a Farm Sustainability Passport pilot programme in Budget 2026.

Alongside this they also want to see an investment of €50m to the Rural Transport Programme and the creation of a €48m fund to provide grants for electric vehicles targeted at rural dwellers only.

TRANSPORT UPGRADES

Ms Murphy said: “Investment in the social and economic infrastructure of the regions is vital to deliver on Government’s commitment to balanced regional development.

“This requires addressing the existing challenges facing Rural Ireland; an older population, higher rates of part-time employment, lower median incomes, higher poverty rates, and distance from everyday services.

“Capacity building to meet future challenges is also essential and the Unit for Future Planning must prioritise regional development.”

Ms Murphy will state to the committee later today that “income adequacy cannot be addressed by one-off measures as has been the case in recent Budgets”.

She will add: “Those reliant on social transfers need certainty and permanence.

“Adequacy must be embedded into our social protection system if we are to address poverty and meet our national poverty targets as set out in the Roadmap for Social Inclusion.”

Tanaiste Simon Harris recently claimed that people on the dole should not get the same budget pay bounce as pensioners while Ireland is at full employment.

At the start of the month, the Fine Gael leader held talks with business leaders, trade unions and State agencies in Dublin to discuss the potential impact of Donald Trump’s tariffs on the Irish economy.

TARIFFS THREAT

On that day, he indicated that the Government may freeze the jobseekers allowance at its current level instead of including it in any social welfare increases in the upcoming budget.

Asked if the Government will separate the jobseekers allowance from other welfare hikes in the budget, the Tanaiste told the Irish Sun: “I do always think there is merit in not looking at social welfare payments with uniformity across the board.

“We’ve been talking a lot about college fees the last couple of days unexpectedly perhaps but roughly speaking the equivalent of €1.20 or €1.25 on every social welfare payment is roughly the equivalent of reducing the college fees by €1,000.

“I’m not convinced that you need to see as significant a rise in the dole as you do in the pension for example at a time when our country is in full employment and there’s lots of supports out there for people getting into work and there is other supports out there for people who can’t work for very many good reasons.

‘LONG WAY TO GO’

“That is my view but we will thrash all that out in the Budget and there’s a long way to go.”

Government leaders have also ruled out any cost of living bonuses for the upcoming Budget as they plan to dial back spending due to concerns about the economic impact of the Trump tariffs.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe and Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers previously admitted that they are reluctant to make any spending or taxation decisions in Budget 2026 that “create new risks”.

This year’s lack of cost of living package has led to a row between Fianna Fail and Fine Gael over college fees which were temporarily lowered by €1,000 in the last Budget but could rise back to €3,000 in the next Budget unless action is taken.