Gavan Reilly: Leo’s early risers won’t feel helped by this cost of living plan

It’s not a budget, they cry, about the cost of living package unveiled today (Tuesday). It’s not even a mini-budget! That’s true, but whether they mean it to or not, the plan for the next few days looks an awful lot like Budget season anyway: the kites being flown in the newspapers (energy credit, anyone?), the party spin doctors briefing on their side of the disputes, the wholesale leaking of the eventual measures, the set-piece Dáil statements, the late-night votes to change the tax code. Throw in the general media speculation (not helped by it being a quiet news week otherwise) and you have a lot of the flavour of Budget Day anyway.

Through that lens the measures being announced will be a disappointment to many. The lump sum payments to social welfare recipients will be welcome but may amount only to a temporary reprieve for many of them. It would have required a €20 increase on the contributory State pension last October to keep pace with inflation; they only got €12 and the value of cash has continued to fall away since then. They’d need another €20 now just to keep pace for the rest of the year, and a €200 contribution is a big overall sum that still leaves them in lesser shape.

But already striking as I write this on Tuesday morning – just as the Cabinet is meeting to sign off on those measures – is the response from those with full-time jobs who are largely outside of the social welfare net. Twitter is hardly known for its level-headed responses to nuanced public issues, but there’s already a constant refrain: ‘What about the working people who are paying for all this? What’s in it for me?’

That illustrates a tricky situation for the government to navigate. Of course the most vulnerable are the ones that need the greatest help, and deserve a more-than-equal slice of whatever pie the government has available to it. In a package of €1.25 billion it is right and proper that those with the least get the most – after all, their reliance on the ever-pricier essential groceries means their effective rate of inflation is higher than others.

But if you’re a worker, the few hundred quid you got in last September’s budget through tweaks to the tax system is now eaten bread. That’s your new normal; so is the temporary lower rate of VAT on household energy bills, as is the slightly lower VAT on the occasional night out or weekend away. If you’re a roads commuter, as most in Meath are, then extending the cuts on petrol and diesel excise are no ‘benefit’ to you: they just continue what you’ve already got.

All of which means, save for the one-off child benefit bonus, most workers will feel like all they get in this package is a timetable for making it dearer to drive. How does that square with prioritising the people who get up early in the morning?

COST OF LIVING MEASURES

The Government's latest cost-of-living package is on course to exceed €1.2bn signed off by Cabinet.

- €400m looks set to be allocated for social protection measures.

- €200 lump sum social welfare payment.

- €100 lump sum Child Benefit payment per child and €100 extra for the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance.

- Government looks like it will not introduce an additional €200 energy credit in May.

- There is to be a staggered increase in the excise duty on petrol and diesel to their previous levels.

- Petrol will increase by 6 cent per litre on 1 June, 7 cent on 1 September and 8 cent on 31 October, which is an overall increase of 21 cent.

- Diesel will increase by 2 cent per litre on 1 March, 5 cent on 1 June, 5 cent on 1 September, and 6 cent on 31 October, which is an overall increase of 18 cent.

- Extension to 9% reduced VAT rate for the hospitality sector for a further six months. It will return to the standard 13.5% rate from September.

The Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme is also set to be extended by three months, with entry criteria widening significantly.