Editing Liam Cosgrave (section)

===Welfare measures===
In the field of social security, a number of important reforms in welfare provision were introduced during Cosgrave's premiership. In 1974, sickness insurance, unemployment insurance, and occupational injuries coverage were extended to all employees, while earnings-related components were added to the basic flat-rate sickness benefit, the basic flat-rate short-term occupational injury benefit, and the basic flat-rate unemployment benefit. That same year, pension insurance was extended to all employees, and a means-tested allowance for the wives of prisoners was introduced.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GaWtd5zJfB8C&q=growth+to+limits+ireland+old+age+pension+insurance+for+all+manual+wage+earners&pg=PA248|title=Growth to Limits: The Western European Welfare States Since World War II|first=Peter|last=Flora|date=6 October 1986|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=9783110111316|via=Google Books|access-date=29 April 2021|archive-date=29 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429151053/https://books.google.com/books?id=GaWtd5zJfB8C&q=growth+to+limits+ireland+old+age+pension+insurance+for+all+manual+wage+earners&pg=PA248|url-status=live}}</ref> In addition, welfare benefits were increased by 125% during the course of Cosgrave's premiership.<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Ambiguous_Republic/qN-jf5dN7QAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=He+chuckles+at+the+memory+of+meeting+Cluskey&pg=PR6-IA17&printsec=frontcover Ambiguous Republic Ireland in the 1970s By Diarmaid Ferriter, 2012]</ref>