The parents of babies born in December will be eligible to receive the €420 treble child benefit grant announced in the budget, Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys has said.
Ms Humphreys said she had been contacted in the past 24 hours by a lot of women whose babies are due in December and were worried their babies would be born too early for the grant.
Ms Humphreys said she did not want to see any woman or baby miss out, adding “don’t worry the Christmas babies will be looked after”.
Her remarks came as the Dáil debated Tuesday’s bumper budget amid intense speculation in political circles that the country will go to the polls next month.
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Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the public now has a clear choice to make in the general election and she called on the Taoiseach to “bring it on and name the date”.
Ms McDonald criticised the budget as “directionless, lazy, copy-and-paste politics from the Government’s tired old playbook”.
Taoiseach Simon Harris said his message to people was that “this budget means that your bills and your taxes will go down and your family can keep more of your hard-earned money”.
The Fine Gael leader rejected criticism of the budget from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (Ifac), which said it “repeats Ireland’s past mistakes of pumping billions into the economy which it is at full employment”.
The Taoiseach told Newstalk he was “not just running an economy”, he was “running a society”.
Responding to criticism from Ifac, he said the council was there “to keep politicians in line”; it had been set up by Government, “but my bosses are the people of Ireland”.
Elsewhere, ministers were quizzed by reporters on budget measures for their departments.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly confirmed that the free hormone replacement therapy (HRT) scheme will not cover the cost of GP or pharmacist fees when it becomes available in January.
[ ‘You don’t have to feel like this’: Emilie Pine on starting HRTOpens in new window ]
Mr Donnelly said he looked at covering all costs of HRT – which is typically used to relieve symptoms of menopause – but said “if we did that we would not have been able to make it available to all women”.
The Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke did not accept the “charge” that he has failed the hospitality sector by not delivering a VAT reduction he had pushed for.
Mr Burke sustained criticism from the hospitality industry after its call for the 13.5 per cent rate of VAT to be reduced to 9 per cent was not included in the budget.
He said he was confident the “suite of measures” including a €4,000 energy grant would make a difference for struggling pubs and restaurants.
On the question of an election date, during an interview with RTÉ, Tánaiste and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin reiterated his view that February would be the “ideal time” for an election.
He said he finds the “frenzy” of speculation “hard to understand because the difference between November and February isn’t enormous”.
He said February would allow the Government to get more legislation over the line, citing Bills on mental health, defamation and gambling.
At a press conference with Fine Gael candidates Mr Harris said it is his “constitutional prerogative to call the election but I have been very clear in relation to wanting to do this in a respectful way at the right time.
“I think this Government operates very well, I have great respect for the two Coalition leaders that I serve with, and I won’t be providing them with running commentaries or surprises.”
Mr Harris said he wants “the Government to finish its work”.
