By Cillian Sherlock, PA
The Taoiseach has agreed with the Minister for Social Protection that the jobseekers’ allowance should not increase at the same rate as other social welfare payments.
Coalition leaders and senior Ministers are engaged in high-level negotiations on Sunday night, ahead of the budget on Tuesday.
The final make-up of the cost-of-living package and changes to social welfare payments are among the remaining issues to be thrashed out.
In particular, Ministers have disagreed on the scale of increases to jobseekers’ allowance.
Mr Harris said he was aligned with Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys on the matter, who has stressed there is a limited amount to spend.
He agreed with Fine Gael colleague that the allowance should not be prioritised over payments to carers, pensioners and people with disabilities given that the economy is operating at near full employment.
Mr Harris said it was a practical matter rather than an “ideological debate”.
“At the end of the day, Government is ultimately going to have to say, ‘These are many good ideas, how do we best make the carpet fit the room?'”
He added: “We’re going to see all of the social welfare payments increase – it is just a question of how much.
“For everything we do here, it means you can’t do something else there. That’s the balance we have to try and get right.”
Mr Harris also suggested the cost-of-living package could be larger than previously expected.
“My priority for this Budget is to make sure we get help to people in the here and now.
“We have to make sure the cost-of-living package is sufficient enough to meet the scale of challenge that people are facing in their lives.”
