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

I thank the Acting Chairman. I have been at stalls in my constituency over the last couple of weeks to build for the demonstration on 18 June by the Cost of Living Coalition. There is much anger and frustration from workers and people on social welfare. I was talking to a young woman who has two children. She said she has been really impacted by the rise in the cost of her shop. She made the point that a pack of toilet roll that was €2.90 up to a couple of weeks ago has now gone up to €5.20. Another young woman and her husband work in the hospitality sector and are low-paid workers. They have four children and she said her weekly shop has gone up from between €100 and €110 up to around €150. That is about €45 per week extra, which is more than €2,000 per year on food alone. That is how the increased cost of living has impacted on them, without taking in energy and the other costs that have gone up.

Many people raised the issue of the €450 million given to developers to do the job they are supposed to do. People expect the Government to assist people in particular in lower-income households over the next period.

On the radio this morning there was a three-day piece on the cost of living in food shops and the impact on food. Kantar research stated that 62% of families are cutting back on food and this particular researcher had a receipt from a shop he did this time last year. He did the exact same shop for the exact same items this year and made the point the shop was up 20%. He said 454 g of butter, which is a pound of butter, has gone up from €2.19 to €2.99, which is a 36% increase. The price of 2 l of milk has gone from €1.49 to €1.89, which is a 26% increase. Chicken has gone up 29%. These are the real facts people are facing every day of the week while their incomes have not changed, and that is the issue.

While the Government said it is external factors, etc., that have impacted on inflation, it must do more to alleviate the crisis for families. Food retailers have announced their sales have decreased by 6% in the last 12 weeks. That means people are cutting back. Food inflation alone will have gone up at least 8% by the end of the year and possibly even more. Dr. Michael Drew from St. Vincent de Paul has written a book about the hidden deprivation of food. He said 350,000 people, which is 7% of the population, are impacted by food poverty. Social Justice Ireland was also on the radio yesterday. Its economic researcher, Colette Bennett, made the point the poverty rate is 11.6%, which is 580,000 people, but increases to 19% or 1 million people, when you factor in mortgages and rent payments. Overall, the poverty rate in owner-occupied homes is one in 12 and for renters it is one in five. For people with a disability she said the pre-housing poverty rate is 39.1%, which means two in five people with a disability living in poverty. That increases to more than one in two when you factor in the costs of housing. These are all realities people are living in at the moment.

Inflation went up by 7% in April and has gone up again this month. Rents went up by 12%. Almost 1 million people were forced below the poverty line in the past year when rents are taken into account and an extra 300,000 people found themselves in this position last year. Everything is going up, including rents, food and energy costs, but the only incomes doing so are those of the already well-paid. The Government has done very little to alleviate this crisis and working-class families and those on low incomes are being hit the hardest. The one-off payment for electricity bills was welcome but is not enough. The reduction in fares is welcome but we should have free public transport if the Government wants to take serious measures to tackle the climate crisis.

We cannot rely on the Minister of State's Government to take serious action. We need to organise for the minimum wage to be increased and move to a €15 per hour living wage. The €5 increase in welfare and State pensions in the last budget was an insult. We need a €10 increase at minimum. We need to freeze, then lower, rents and ban evictions. We need to scrap college fees and build public student accommodation. Importantly - and this is an issue I have raised on a number of occasions - we need a specific emergency hardship fund for those who are struggling with bills. The community welfare officers should be relocated back into the community for at least two to three days per week to make such payments more accessible. We need a windfall tax on the super profits of companies in the energy sector to help pay for these measures. I support the motion brought forward by Deputy Kerrane and appeal to people to come out on the streets on 18 June and put a shot across the bow of this Government to show people cannot tolerate this level of inflation, especially those at the poorest levels, on low incomes and on social welfare payments.

See this speech in context