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

The Taoiseach stated that NESC was looking into the issues of poverty and inequality. I put it to him that almost everything has changed since some of those reports were done. There needs to be a sort of an emergency response, again, to the shocking levels of poverty that are now becoming apparent.

The Barnardos report published today is really shocking. The number of people accessing food banks has doubled to one in ten of the population. The number that has difficulty putting food on the table for their family is now one in five. This is one of the richest countries in the world. According to a report yesterday, the food inflation rate has gone up to 16% in the 12 weeks until the middle of January. As we speak, people are being driven into poverty.

There has to be some awareness. At the time of the budget, we predicted, I hate to say, that the budget increases in social welfare, wages, pensions and so on would leave people in a worse situation and would leave more people driven into poverty. It is now happening. There has to be a response. We need an emergency budget. We cannot have tens of thousands of people, especially vulnerable people and children, without enough food to eat and turning off the heating because they cannot afford it. We cannot have that.

It is especially nauseating that a few weeks ago, there was a report about the number of people who have more than €4 million in personal wealth having doubled in the country. We have to do something about this inequality. An emergency response is needed. We need an emergency budget and further emergency measures on the cost-of-living crisis.

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