{"id":1778,"date":"2022-02-11T14:33:55","date_gmt":"2022-02-11T14:33:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/236623-2\/"},"modified":"2022-02-11T14:33:55","modified_gmt":"2022-02-11T14:33:55","slug":"236623-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/236623-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Government Excuses For Its Cost-Of-Living Plan Do Not Stand Up To Scrutiny"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>A cursory examination of the figures reveals the inequity at the core of this plan<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The government\u2019s excuses for failing to target their cost-of-living measures at low and middle income earners do not stand up to scrutiny, according to Social Democrats co-leader R\u00f3is\u00edn Shortall.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA cursory examination of the figures reveals the inequity at the core of this plan. The vast bulk of the \u20ac505 million package comprises \u20ac378 million directed at universal \u20ac200 electricity credits \u2013 meaning 75pc of the funding is not targeted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo further underscore this point, as part of this plan, holiday home owners will receive a mammoth \u20ac12.4 million. By contrast, the Working Family Payment measures in the plan are just \u20ac4 million \u2013 a meagre one-third of that amount. Does the government believe holiday home owners are under more financial strain than low income workers?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFinance Minister Michael McGrath has stated he will donate his \u20ac200 electricity grant to charity. If his colleagues in cabinet do the same, it will mean a combined donation of \u20ac3,000 from ministers. Compare this to the \u20ac378 million package they had the power to target at low and middle income earners. If they had directed that funding to those most at need, perhaps they would have prevented many from seeking the assistance of charities like the St. Vincent de Paul this year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe government has justified using the blunt instrument of a universal \u20ac200 credit as a necessary response to get funding to people quickly. This does not stand up to scrutiny. The credit was announced by the government in December. By its own admission, it will not be paid until April \u2013 five months later. It had time to target this funding if it wanted to.<\/p>\n<p>11 February, 2022<\/p>\n<p>Ends<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A cursory examination of the figures reveals the inequity at the core of this plan The government\u2019s excuses for failing to target their cost-of-living measures at low and middle income earners do not stand up to scrutiny, according to Social Democrats co-leader R\u00f3is\u00edn Shortall. \u201cA cursory examination of the figures reveals the inequity at the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[88,7,264],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","category-press-release","category-roisin-shortall"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Government Excuses For Its Cost-Of-Living Plan Do Not Stand Up To Scrutiny - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/236623-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Government Excuses For Its Cost-Of-Living Plan Do Not Stand Up To Scrutiny - Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A cursory examination of the figures reveals the inequity at the core of this plan The government\u2019s excuses for failing to target their cost-of-living measures at low and middle income earners do not stand up to scrutiny, according to Social Democrats co-leader R\u00f3is\u00edn Shortall. \u201cA cursory examination of the figures reveals the inequity at the [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/236623-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-11T14:33:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-10-29-at-15.41.07.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1066\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ZOO Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ZOO Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/236623-2\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/236623-2\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ZOO Admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4aa25e1b0ecfe5e51a2ceab9a9006960\"},\"headline\":\"Government Excuses For Its Cost-Of-Living Plan Do Not Stand Up To Scrutiny\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-11T14:33:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/236623-2\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":294,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/236623-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-10-29-at-15.41.07.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Finance\",\"Press Release\",\"R\u00f3is\u00edn Shortall\"],\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/236623-2\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/236623-2\\\/\",\"name\":\"Government Excuses For Its Cost-Of-Living Plan Do Not Stand Up To Scrutiny - Social Democrats\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/236623-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/236623-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-10-29-at-15.41.07.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-11T14:33:55+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/236623-2\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/236623-2\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/236623-2\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-10-29-at-15.41.07.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-10-29-at-15.41.07.jpeg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":1066},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/236623-2\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Government Excuses For Its Cost-Of-Living Plan Do Not Stand Up To Scrutiny\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\",\"name\":\"Social Democrats\",\"description\":\"Change Ireland for the better\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Social Democrats\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/SocDems-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/SocDems-logo.png\",\"width\":846,\"height\":358,\"caption\":\"The Social Democrats\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/socialdemocratsireland\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/SocDems\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4aa25e1b0ecfe5e51a2ceab9a9006960\",\"name\":\"ZOO Admin\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/author\\\/zoo-admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Government Excuses For Its Cost-Of-Living Plan Do Not Stand Up To Scrutiny - Social Democrats","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/236623-2\/","og_locale":"ga_IE","og_type":"article","og_title":"Government Excuses For Its Cost-Of-Living Plan Do Not Stand Up To Scrutiny - Social Democrats","og_description":"A cursory examination of the figures reveals the inequity at the core of this plan The government\u2019s excuses for failing to target their cost-of-living measures at low and middle income earners do not stand up to scrutiny, according to Social Democrats co-leader R\u00f3is\u00edn Shortall. \u201cA cursory examination of the figures reveals the inequity at the [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/236623-2\/","og_site_name":"Social Democrats","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland","article_published_time":"2022-02-11T14:33:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":1066,"url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-10-29-at-15.41.07.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"ZOO Admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@SocDems","twitter_site":"@SocDems","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ZOO Admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/236623-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/236623-2\/"},"author":{"name":"ZOO Admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/4aa25e1b0ecfe5e51a2ceab9a9006960"},"headline":"Government Excuses For Its Cost-Of-Living Plan Do Not Stand Up To Scrutiny","datePublished":"2022-02-11T14:33:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/236623-2\/"},"wordCount":294,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/236623-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-10-29-at-15.41.07.jpeg","articleSection":["Finance","Press Release","R\u00f3is\u00edn Shortall"],"inLanguage":"ga-IE"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/236623-2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/236623-2\/","name":"Government Excuses For Its Cost-Of-Living Plan Do Not Stand Up To Scrutiny - Social Democrats","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/236623-2\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/236623-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-10-29-at-15.41.07.jpeg","datePublished":"2022-02-11T14:33:55+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/236623-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"ga-IE","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/236623-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"ga-IE","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/236623-2\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-10-29-at-15.41.07.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-10-29-at-15.41.07.jpeg","width":1600,"height":1066},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/236623-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Government Excuses For Its Cost-Of-Living Plan Do Not Stand Up To Scrutiny"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/","name":"Social Democrats","description":"Change Ireland for the better","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"ga-IE"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization","name":"The Social Democrats","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"ga-IE","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png","width":846,"height":358,"caption":"The Social Democrats"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland","https:\/\/x.com\/SocDems"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/4aa25e1b0ecfe5e51a2ceab9a9006960","name":"ZOO Admin","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/author\/zoo-admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}