Local TD critical of jobseekers' allowance increase in Budget 2025

A local Fianna Fáil TD is criticising the increase in jobseekers' allowance in the Budget - saying we should never be 'incentivising people not to work'. The government added €12 a week to all core rates of social welfare yesterday, including for the unemployed.

Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys had planned on targeting the increases at pensioners, carers and those with disabilities. Longford-Westmeath TD Robert Troy says that would have been a better idea - and he doesn't think jobseeker's allowance should have increased at all.