A Green Party Minister has suggested a 40 euro a week increase in top social welfare rates.
Joe O'Brien believes the weekly payment is too low and should move to closer to 245 euro a week.
He's also suggested welfare payments need to be linked to the cost of living to provide a truly fair system.
But Minister O'Brien accepts that's not all going to happen in this upcoming budget:
"We're not going to get to it in one step or two steps, maybe not even three steps. But I think that's where we need to be thinking, and that's how we need to be thinking, particularly if we're interested in alleviating poverty."
