Raising core social welfare rates by 20 euro a week would cost the State 1.5 billion euro a year.
Some politicians are looking for such a rise ahead of a special Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party meeting on the budget this afternoon.
It comes as annual inflation in Ireland is estimated to be running at 9.6 per cent to the end of June – that’s one percent higher than the Eurozone average.
EuroStat have also estimated energy inflation for June to be running at a whopping 41.9 percent.
Estonia is the country with the highest inflation in the statistics, forecast at 22 percent.
