Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak to the motion on the cost of living and I thank Deputy Nash for putting it on the agenda.

We know that, over the past 14 months, inflation has risen by 5.5%. That 5.5% is just a figure but the reality of that 5.5% is increases in basics such as bread, milk, butter, pasta and other groceries. It is estimated that the weekly shop for the average family is up by €15 a week, or €780 a year. If we add in extra costs like energy, which is up by €500 per year, and another €500 for petrol and diesel, it is heading towards the €2,000 mark. To recoup that in wages, when we take account of income tax and PRSI, a person would need an increase of somewhere between €3,500 to €4,000 in their pay packet. The typical pay for 50% of wage earners is €34,500 so a €3,500 increase means a 10% rise. If a person is one of the 25% earning less than €21,700 a year, they would be looking for a 15% pay increase, and that is just to stand still and not even to get ahead of it.

We live in a very unequal society and the key factor is a very unequal distribution of pay. Between 2010 and 2019, the higher paid managers and professionals had a nominal wage increase of 20%, whereas most workers' wages were at best stagnant and low skilled workers in the public sector saw a nominal fall of 3% and, in real terms, 10%. Yesterday, the Taoiseach was appalled at the notion of what he described as a wage spiral, but this is precisely what is needed to challenge the huge inequalities in our society and the huge disparity in wealth and incomes that increased during the pandemic. The Taoiseach should look at the latest report on wealth from Oxfam, which points out that wage increases do not cause inflation; they reduce profits.

The motion calls on the Government to legislate to enhance collective bargaining laws and frameworks to ensure that working people obtain a fair share of the wealth they produce. I would fully support such legislation but I would also say to workers, especially low-paid workers, not to hold their breath and to join a union, get organised and fight for what they need and are entitled to.

I fully agree that the €100 credit on energy bills is tokenistic. The Government needs to do much more in targeting measures to help those on the lowest incomes. The €5 weekly increase across the board in basic welfare payments was not enough to keep pace with inflation, even before these increases. To make up for the fact there was no increase in the provisions in the previous two budgets, this would have needed at least a €10 per week increase. It is crucial this is now remediated. A 30 cent increase in the hourly minimum wage is a joke. Some 630,000 people live at risk of poverty, including some 200,000 children.

These are the people who will be hit hardest by these increases and this is before we consider the cost of childcare, with single parents paying 30% of their income on it, the huge increases in rents and house prices, interest rates and the fact that mortgage interest rates are double the EU average. We need a revolution. We need a mass movement of workers not just to demand change but to achieve it and, after 100 years, to create the republic we never got.

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