Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There are huge financial burdens on people in this country, particularly on low-income families and elderly people. I am very mindful of the struggles that many rural farming families face in terms of rising costs of fertiliser and a very unfair and unjustifiable carbon tax that was imposed on people.

I note in particular that the motion highlights the fact the average Irish mortgage interest rate of 2.79% is more than twice the EU average of 1.31%, costing households more than €2,000 a year. In many cases, that can be the making or breaking of families, and in this case it is the breaking of families because they are obviously being charged a lot more than the EU average. That is something the Government must tackle. There is no excuse for that but there has been no action to date from the Government to bring this down. It has to happen.

The second issue I want to highlight is that Ireland has the second-highest OECD household spend on childcare costs, with couples spending an average of 24% of income and single parents spending 29% of their wages on childcare costs. This can be a factor that pushes women out of the workforce and it needs to be addressed. Obviously, we need reform of the childcare sector and services and how that operates, but we also need to ensure that families receive proper childcare value for money and that the service providers are in receipt of proper interventions to allow them to continue in their businesses.

I am very concerned by the fact the Society of St. Vincent de Paul has said its calls for help this year will be at the highest level in its history and that it could reach 200,000 people by the end of this year. That is deeply alarming and is something we must address collectively. I call on the Government to stand up for people, in particular low income families and working families, who are being treated appallingly in this country, as well as for our pensioners.

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