Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

The cost of living is squeezing families throughout the country. There is a feeling of the 1980s in towns and villages the length and breadth of the country at the moment. Families simply cannot pay bills. They cannot buy the necessities such as food and clothing for their children. Food banks and Society of St. Vincent de Paul groups throughout the country are out the door at the moment. The Capuchin Day Centre in Dublin and other food-support networks are inundated. There is a real crisis washing through the whole of the country at the moment.

Even before this cost-of-living crisis, 661,000 people were living in poverty in the State. Shockingly nearly 250,000 children were living in poverty. These figures have obviously increased in the past two years. Some 133,000 people are currently defined as working poor, people doing 40 hours work a week but still living in poverty. These people cannot understand the lack of urgency coming from the Government at the moment. It is incredible. We will be listening to a debate on the budget for the next two months and what the Government will or will not bring to the table to help these families.

Today many of these families will fill their cars full of fuel and it may cost €120 to do that but they know that €50 of that is going straight to the Government in the form of taxes. They know the Government is harvesting more in fuel taxes today than it did before the cost-of-living crisis happened and they cannot figure out why the Government will not help them with this.

This year the back-to-school costs will be extremely high for some families. The Irish League of Credit Unions has done good analysis on this. It has pointed out that sending a child to primary school will cost a family €1,186 per child. The costs for a secondary school are even worse at €1,491 per child. These economic stresses are putting pressure on families. Some 63% of families say that back-to-school costs will add a financial burden to their family. Two thirds, a majority of families, see that as a time of enormous pressure on their families. Even worse, a quarter of parents say that back-to-school costs will put them in debt of up to €336. One third of families are putting the debt on to their credit cards. In the most extreme cases, one in 20 are turning to moneylenders who are charging extortionate interest rates just so that they can pay for the typical issues going back to school. We have a rip-off Ireland pushing parents into debt just to get their children an education. These statistics come from last year and they have obviously got worse given the current cost-of-living crisis.

Arguably, the situation for third level students is even more grim. I have seen a two-bedroom apartment in Galway being advertised for €1,750 a month. At this stage I know of students who are commuting from places like Athlone to Galway and from Virginia to Dublin every day to access third level education. Some students are using hostels and those hostels are charging up to €50 a night for those young people to be able to access college. Whether it is the increasing cost of accommodation, uniforms, books, transport or extracurricular activities, what we are seeing now is not just a cost-of-living crisis but certain sections of our society being locked out of third level education. Young adults from lower- and middle-income families are being locked out. The divides in society are being increased. A ceiling is being put on the potential of some young people at the moment. It is actually sapping the nation of its future prospects.

I am glad to hear about the increase in the back-to-school allowance. I also welcome that the Government is considering extending the school meal scheme in the budget. For some time, we in Aontú have been pushing the Minister on this. We are looking for oversight on the amount spent. The amount the Government is spending is increasing, but the number of school meals being provided is reducing at the moment. We need to ensure that both the investment and the number of school meals increase.

It is incredible that this is happening at a time when there is so much wealth and so much profiteering in society. The Oxfam report, Profiting from Pain, estimates that billionaires in the food and energy sectors are now increasing their fortunes by $1 billion every two days. Even in this State, there has been an increase of €50 billion since the start of the Covid pandemic. We need to ensure we live in a more equal society and that means funding those low- and middle-income earners but also it means tackling those who are making gross profits at this time.

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