Anyone earning €70,000 or less a year should receive a €400 energy credit as part of next week's budget, the Social Democrats has said.
The party outlined the plan at the launch of its alternative budget document, which also includes calls for a €15 weekly increase to the State pension, a €5 fuel allowance and a €300 per month cut to childcare fees.
Speaking to reporters at Leinster House, the party's deputy leader Cian O'Callaghan said next week's budget needs to address what he described as the "repeated failure" of recent governments to help wider society and those most in need.
He said this should include a €400 energy credit for households earning €70,000 or less, a €15 increase to the State pension, a €300 per month cut to childcare fees, a €1bn investment in disability services, a second tier of child benefit, abolishing the means test for the carer's allowance and a €1,000 cut to third level fees.
The party has also called for 10,000 social and affordable rental and purchase homes to be built next year, and an expansion of the tenant in situ scheme.
It will also seek free GP care for children under the age of 12 and request that the bank levy be tripled.
Speaking to reporters at the launch beside energy spokesperson Jennifer Whitmore and disabilities spokesperson Liam Quaide, Deputy O'Callaghan also questioned the still rumoured cut to stamp duty for first time buyers.
The Social Democrats deputy leader said a previous stamp duty cut took place at the end of the Celtic Tiger era, at which point the country was promised it would not happen again without proper protections being put in place.
