Taoiseach Simon Harris rejected assertions the Government was trying to buy votes ahead of a general election, saying the coalition has taken a “balanced approach” to the budget.
Speaking on Tuesday morning, Mr Harris said he was confident the Government had listened to the Irish people.
“What the Irish people have said is this: Of course inflation is falling, but it hasn’t yet fallen in my kitchen. It hasn’t yet fallen on my farmyard and it hasn’t yet fallen on my shop floor,” Mr Harris said.
“You need to help, you need to assist. What I would say is this. We’ve actually taken a balanced approach.
“I would understand and accept that criticism if we weren’t setting aside billions in terms of the future and if we weren’t very significantly increasing the scale of investment in infrastructure.”
The Taoiseach said he made no apology for “giving people a little bit of their own money back between now and Christmas”, saying it would act as a buffer between inflation and bills falling.
He also rejected that nothing was being done for the hospitality sector, as no Vat rate cut is expected to be announced in the budget.
Mr Harris said there would be a “very exciting package of supports for businesses”, but the Government needed to take a sensible approach to taxation measures.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin, meanwhile, defended the decision to breach the existing 5% spending rule, saying people in the country were “under a lot of pressure”.
“Overall I think we’re doing everything we can to strike a reasonable balance between alleviating the pressures that people feel under as a result of cost-of-living increases over years,” Mr Martin said.
Asked about the introduction of a universal companion pass, which will allow over-70s take a friend or family member on public transport with them for free, Mr Martin said it simplified the overall application process.
“Given that we’re living longer, which is a great thing in Ireland, transformation in lifespan in the last 20-odd years has been one of the most significant developments in modern Ireland.
“But it means then that, people who become more infirm later in life, very often they cannot travel without a companion with them and so it makes sense that we would provide for that.”
