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Tánaiste Simon Harris speaking to the media outside the United Nations Building in New York.Department of Foreign Affairs Ireland
Budget 2026
Harris denies any tensions in government over rate of dole increase in the Budget
Simon Harris says a conversation is merited on whether to increase every payment, such as Jobseekers, by the same amount.
3.59pm, 23 Sep 2025
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TÁNAISTE SIMON HARRIS has denied there are tensions in government on whether it should increase the jobseekers payment at the same rate as other social welfare payments.
Speaking to reporters in New York, where he is attending the 80th United National General Assembly meeting, Harris said he is not saying there should be no increase in the dole in this year’s budget.
However, he suggested there should be a conversation about whether it should increase every social welfare payment by the same amount.
His comments follow remarks he made during the summer, whereby he said there is “merit” in not looking at social welfare payments with “uniformity”.
“My position is we’re saying we want to target, we’re saying we want to make a particular effort on child poverty, carers, people with a disability, and older people through the social protection vote,” he said this morning.
‘I don’t detect any tensions’
“I don’t detect any tensions in government on this. This is something we will work our way through, but it does merit a logical, rational conversation when we’re talking the talk of targeting,” he said.
Harris said he accepts that there are complex reasons why people are unemployed.
“I’m also not suggesting not increasing the dole. We’re having a conversation here about, do you increase every payment by the same amount, or do you have a more targeted approach? And I think that’s a conversation worth having. The government will be prioritising child poverty,” he said, adding:
It simply merits the conversation.
Harris said the best way to lift people out of poverty is through employment and education, stating that there are a range of other ways of assisting people who aren’t in a position to work, thorough other social welfare payments.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he doesn’t like to draw distinctions between social welfare payment recipients, stating that he has “never been into that politics”.
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Asked more recently on whether Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are at odds on the issue, the Taoiseach said recently officials in the Department of Social Protection have advised him that those who lose their jobs and are unemployed are “at risk of poverty more than others”.
“That’s the clear message that was given to me yesterday by experienced people in the social protection field and people in my own social poverty unit. So I heeded that,” he said.
Asked whether he would he would push against Fine Gael’s position that those on jobseekers should not get a rise along with other social welfare recipients, such as pensioners, in this year’s budget, Martin said he would be discussing these issues with ministers.
“First of all, people who lose their jobs. It’s a fluid situation, so it’s not the same people seeking Jobseekers’ Allowance every year. People become unemployed, then they get work again, but in that period when they’re unemployed and on Jobseekers’ Allowance, they are at risk of poverty more than others,” he said.
That was the “clear message” he has received from his officials, he said, adding:
We’ve got to be very careful that anything we do doesn’t exacerbate their risk of poverty.
In the run-up to last year’s budget announcement, then Social Protection Minister and now Fine Gael presidential candidate Heather Humphreys said she wanted increased payments for those on social welfare – but not for jobseekers.
At the time, she claimed robust discussions on the issue were held within government – but she said that ultimately a compromise was found and the proposal never came to fruition.
However, when asked if he would agree to such demands this year, the Taoiseach told The Journal recently:
I thought it was a false row the last time.
“It was never put to us the last time, you might have read about it somewhere, but it was never put to us, in terms of substance, in terms of presentation,” said Martin.
When this was put to Harris this morning, Harris said he is in very regular contact with the Taoiseach during all budget negotiations.
Leaders’ Questions
Back in the Dáil, Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan refused to be drawn on whether energy credits will be a part of the upcoming budget and said that inflation has come down during Leaders’ Questions today.
O’Callaghan was filling in for the Taoiseach.
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Questioned by Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald about the government’s plans for the budget and whether there will be provision for energy credits after multiple energy suppliers announced price increases, O’Callaghan said he would not “pre-announce” the budget.
Last year, two energy credits worth €125 each were included in the budget for all households.
O’Callaghan would not be drawn on whether the same would be included this year, but instead said that the energy credits were effective for “what was a time when there was very high energy prices and when inflation was out of control.
“We’re fortunately in the position now where inflation has come down,” he said.
In recent weeks, Energia, SSE Airtricity, Bord Gáis Energy and Pinergy all announced price increases.
It is not expected that energy credits or the double child benefit payment that featured in last year’s budget will reappear this year.
The government will continue to introduce measures that “will have hard pressed families at the centre of them”, he added, and said both Finance Minister Jack Chambers and Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe will have that at the “forefront of their considerations” when including measures in the budget.
O’Callaghan said he looked forward to viewing Sinn Féin’s own budget submission. “If there are good proposals in it, they’ll give them consideration. If there aren’t, and it’s just populist outrage, they’ll ignore them.”
With reporting by Emma Hickey
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