Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Labour Party for bringing forward this timely and appropriate motion. We all know that people have had it extremely hard for the last two years with the Covid-19 pandemic. So many people lost their jobs or were out of work for periods of time and some were on reduced hours as a result of necessary closures to deal with the pandemic. We also know that many businesses have struggled to keep their doors open. Now as restrictions are easing, ordinary workers and families are faced with a crisis that they have been facing for some time but that has reached a peak, namely a crisis in the cost of living. This crisis has grown over the years as the Government continues to fail to tackle the big issues of the day, such as housing and the cost of childcare.

In October, my colleague Deputy Kerrane conducted a survey on this and she has been leading on this issue. The survey was specifically on the cost of living and we had 14,000 respondents and 6,000 comments about what ordinary workers and families were experiencing in the cost of living. The Minister of State will know that 14,000 respondents is a massive number, which shows the scale of the crisis. The level of response is indicative of same. It was truly shocking to see that 55% of those who responded were working full-time. They said that the cost of living was pushing them further into poverty and that they were struggling to pay the bills, keep the house warm and keep the lights on. That is a failure of this Government.

We need action from the Government that is commensurate with the scale of the crisis. We are all acutely aware of the geopolitical pressures that have led to a rise in the price of energy and we are all aware that inflation is at an all-time high. However, the Government cannot blame external factors for its lack of action. I heard the Taoiseach yesterday blame Russia and Vladimir Putin during Leaders’ Questions for the rise in the cost of living. Again, we are all aware of the geopolitical nature of some of these price rises but the Taoiseach can hardly blame them for his lack of action or for the fact that childcare costs continue to rise. Housing rents and prices have risen year-on-year due to Government inaction and the lack of supply of affordable housing so that people can get their feet on the property ladder.

We need something that the Government cannot say it does not know about and for which Sinn Féin has been calling for a long number of years. We need a three-year ban on rent increases and renters need to see one month’s rent going back into their pockets. We need to see a stop to the carbon tax hikes which are increasing the burden on those suffering from fuel poverty. We need to see the Government stand up to the insurance companies and ensure that ordinary people stop getting ripped off with rising premiums. We need to see a full plan of action on childcare costs. My colleague Deputy Funchion has a clear plan for same, something we have outlined in our budget proposals and she has outlined time and again, which would cut the cost of childcare by two thirds. The cost of childcare is prohibitive and is locking people out of the workforce, especially women. The Government must legislate to ensure that all workers earn a decent living wage. It was slightly laughable that the Minister of State mentioned in his amendment that we need to be concerned that wage growth in excess of other economies erodes our competitiveness. I did not see that concern when we saw the increase in the wage of the Secretary General of the Department of Health and I did not see that international comparison then. The Minister of State can correct me if he disagrees but it would appear to me that this attitude is targeted towards people on low wages.

I want to raise the issue of people in Galway city and county who are struggling to get by as a result of the cost of living. I have been knocking on doors in Galway city every week and it is this issue that comes up most. We see that people are struggling to keep a car on the road and that car is necessary for them to drive to work as a result of the lack of buses. They are also struggling to keep their homes adequately heated during the cold winter months and they are finding it increasingly difficult to put food on their tables. Last week Social Justice Ireland told us that one fifth of people are living in poverty when their housing costs are factored in and that 300,000 people were forced into poverty last year. We need action from Government and we need it now.

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