Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Workers and families are experiencing a really tough start to the new year. The post-Christmas period is always a time of financial pressure but the soaring cost of living sees households really up against it. People are due to be hit with massive energy bills as Government supports are swallowed up. Parents are finding it difficult to put food on the table as the price of groceries has skyrocketed and households continue to cut back on the basics just to get by. The cost-of-living crisis has not gone away. For many households, in fact, the situation is getting worse. People continue to make hard decisions just to make it to the end of the week. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul has said it has received the highest number of calls from families seeking help since the economic crash. The society is also providing record levels of support to students and young people. A poll conducted for Virgin TV News captures the reality of this crisis. The vast majority continue to stress about the impact of soaring costs on their lives. Many say they will not have enough to cover spending on essentials this month and more than a fifth say that their children have had to go without meals or clothing.

Adding to the pressure, the ECB is set to hike interest rates for a fifth time next week. The hike will mean an immediate blow for those on tracker mortgages. The stream of hikes has left these households thousands of euro worse off. We know that those who had their mortgages sold to vulture funds are being aggressively exploited and battered by interest rate increases. Yet, even though there are more hikes to come, the Government refuses to bring forward any mortgage relief measures. People are genuinely worried about what is coming down the tracks as Government supports come to an end. When Sinn Féin public representatives are out in our communities, people constantly come to the door with their extortionate gas bills in hand and they are very worried about the next one. As things stand, at the end of February the reduced VAT rate for gas and electricity comes to an end as does the reduced rate of excise duty for petrol, diesel and home heating oil and the ban on energy disconnections. Four weeks later, the moratorium on evictions runs out. This presents the perfect storm waiting to happen for workers and families.

The Government has said that it will meet in the coming weeks to discuss the future of cost-of-living supports but after two years of being hammered by soaring living costs, households need clarity and certainty about what is going to happen next. They need that clarity and certainty from the Taoiseach now. He has said there will be no cliff-edge but people need to see the plan. Tá an ghéarchéim sa chostas maireachtála ag cur daoine faoi bhrú dáiríre. Caithfidh an Rialtas a chinntiú go bhfaigheann teaghlaigh an tacaíocht a theastaíonn. Tá oibrithe agus teaghlaigh ar chiumhais na haille agus ní féidir leis sin tarlú.

My questions are these. Will the Taoiseach provide struggling households today with certainty they need? Can he set out his plan? Will he commit to extending the supports and protections that are coming to an end? Will he please examine options to introduce targeted, tailored and time-bound mortgage interest relief for struggling mortgage holders?

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