Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

This Saturday, the Cost of Living Coalition will see thousands of workers, students, pensioners and people on low incomes coming out to protest the cost-of-living crisis. One of the messages they are seeking to convey to the Minister is that this is not an either-or issue. There must be pay increases for workers and income increases for those on pensions and social welfare to match the level of inflation. Otherwise, in real terms, people are taking income and pay cuts. That is the reality. There is no justification for that.

In addition, we have to reduce the basic cost of living with regard to accommodation by introducing measures such as rent controls, actually deliver affordable housing and reduce the cost of childcare, public transport, education and so forth. It is not an either-or matter. The Minister says we cannot borrow too much. Yes, we cannot borrow too much, but the elephant in the room in all this is that there are some people making a lot of profits at present. There have been some winners in the inflation crisis, and perhaps they can contribute to ensuring that ordinary people do not see their incomes fall and that they get the pay increases they deserve.

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