Independent Alliance and Fianna Fáil push for budget benefits in January

Both the Independent Alliance and Fianna Fáil are pressing the Government to introduce an all-inclusive social welfare benefits package at the beginning of next year as opposed to later in 2017.

Disabilities Minister Finian McGrath said yesterday that he and the alliance were pushing for January for the welfare package, which includes increases in the pension and payments for the disabled, carers and widows among others.

Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar though says increases across the board from January would cost €350m, an amount his department does not have. Instead, he suggests the combined welfare-linked increases could be brought in at a cheaper cost later in the year, possibly as late as June.

His position is being viewed by senior Fianna Fáil figures as playing politics with the budget, after that party’s Willie O’Dea was the first to demand earlier this year a €5 pension increase.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin over the weekend escalated the row by insisting that the social benefits for all groups be paid out at the beginning of next year. Speaking at the party president’s dinner in Dublin on Saturday night, Mr Martin said: “We find that [June] is unacceptable.”

“Negotiations are still under way and our view is that welfare payments should start in January. We are very clear that the welfare payment should commence in January.

“There is an element of internal Fine Gael politics at foot here. I think the budget is falling victim to the political jousting that is going on within Fine Gael. It’s very late in the day that this is being sprung.”

“There is an element that Leo feels that if he can have a go off Fianna Fáil consistently or seek to undermine, that that might gain him traction in whatever subsequent election he might find himself party to.”

A spokesman for Mr Varadkar said the Government were “united” on the issue and that the whole package should be paid together “as early as resources allow”.

“We can’t start in January and cover the whole year. We can start later, in June or earlier. Discussions are ongoing.”

The Department of Public Expenditure, Department of Finance and Department of Social Protection are all expected to continue last-minute negotiations today, focusing on spending limits as well as savings targets.

“We’re going as far as we we can but we can’t push back to the beginning of the year,” added Mr Varadkar’s spokesman.

‘Super junior’ minister Finian McGrath said yesterday while wanting the earlier introduction, it would cost €30m or more per month.

It is thought that March or April may be viewed as an agreeable compromise for all sides. But such a move may be viewed in political circles as a cynical attempt to keep the Fine Gael-minority government in office if pension and related payment increases are put on hold until late spring next year and a snap election is called then.

Mr McGrath added: “Of course, as of this morning and last night, we are pushing for the closest date to January. But there might have to be a compromise.”

The department said introducing the higher benefits in March would cost €260m.