Eamon Ryan is in favour of continuing cost of living cash supports past the current end of February deadline and paying for them out of a massive surprise €2billion surplus tax fund.
The Energy Minister has also backed a return of another cost of living package next winter, saying we need to “keep enough money in the locker” for this too.
Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys came to Cabinet this week with the great news that the Social Insurance Fund (SIF) we all pay into is €2billion in the black for 2022.
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The Green Party chief and Energy Minister - also one of the three leaders of the coalition government - was asked by the Irish Mirror if this extra cash should be used to extend cost of living supports into Spring and Summer.
Mr Ryan said: “Yes, there are about 12 different elements to the cost of living measures, there is new windfall tax revenue coming, the State has funds in a variety of ways.
“So I wouldn’t rule out any one source of funds being used, it’s the balance that we have to get right.”
In a further blow to householders, the European Central Bank is set to hike interest rates again on Thursday morning, adding hundreds or thousands of euro to an annual household budget.
The Energy Minister was asked if this would have an impact on the government’s thinking when it comes to winding down the cost of living supports package.
He added: “It won’t have a cliff edge, they won’t all end at the end of February, we’re all agreed on that.
“We do have to wind down from them, same way we did with Covid, but the timing of that will depend on a deep analysis in terms of what’s happening with inflation, so we’ll keep a close eye on what’s happening with core inflation as well as energy prices.
“We don’t control interest rates, it’s likely, I would have thought, the ECB, we’re likely to see further increases over the next few months, but no one can control that.
“So the Government will take a balanced approach.
“And part of the balance would be keeping enough money in the locker that come the next budget, in October, if we have to, if we see for example that interest rates have continued to rise, or energy prices haven’t come down, then we’ve the wherewithal to go to do what we did in last year’s budget, go big and go really direct with the payments to the households.
“That worked last year.”
Minister Ryan's comments come after Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that he will not “speculate” on the continuation of cost of living measures as he does not want to “raise expectations”.
However, he stated that an announcement on what measures will continue will be made by the middle of the month.
He also stressed that while there may be some universal measures, most payments will be targeted.
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