Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Whenever there is an economic crisis, the burden of pain falls on the shoulders of those least likely to withstand the strain. There is always a disproportionate impact on the standard of living for low-income households. They are a particularly vulnerable group, living on a knife-edge from pay packet to pay packet. Anything that disturbs that sensitive balance can cause a cascade of hardship for the family, painting a picture of deepening crisis that can result in housing instability, job loss, food and medicine insecurity and a spiralling descent into greater depth as families try to manage expenses.

To any observer there is a marked disparity in people's vulnerability to the cost-of-living crisis. With inflation at a 20-year high and essentials rising in price across the board, families are being forced into making choices that will have a direct impact on their health and well-being, as well as on their standard of living. There are distinctly sharp price rises and fuel and energy costs, which most families, particularly low-income families, can ill afford. There seems to be no slacking in the pace of these price rises, a pace that has not been seen in decades. The cost of essentials such as food, clothing and footwear has risen substantially. The Government has offered nothing more than a Band-Aid to address the rapid rise in the cost of living. Families are finding it near impossible to make ends meet and to find the money to pay household bills. Carbon tax is applied to domestic home heating fuels and fuel oils. The proposal to further increase that tax will result in additional increases in already exorbitant home and heating costs.

In some countries, carbon taxes have been shown to have a negative impact, resulting in job losses and companies going out of business. It is not necessarily balanced out by jobs created. Carbon tax has its greatest impact on low- and middle-income families who are least able to sustain the rise in the cost of many essential products.

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