Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I begin by thanking my colleague Deputy Louise O'Reilly for the work she did on this motion. I also wish the Minister of State all the best in his new role and more importantly I hope he will take a hardline approach in his meeting with retailers during the week.

The Government is out of touch with the struggles of ordinary workers and families. I will explain why. I will talk about one of the most successful grassroots community initiatives in my area, namely the Clondalkin Cares Food Bank. To the Government's shame, a food bank is very successful in my area. The Clondalkin Cares Food Bank is available to support any person experiencing food poverty, no matter what the reason. There are a multitude of reasons people access the service but the cost of living is number one. It was originally set up in Clondalkin, but has expanded into Lucan, Palmerston, Brittas, Saggart, Rathcoole and Newcastle in the past year or so.

Some 600 people are dependent on this food bank every week. The food bank is based in Quarryvale Family Resource Centre and it is run by Karen Johnson and her team. I met Karen in Buswells Hotel at the launch of the centre's annual report and I want to thank all those involved for all the work they do on behalf of my community.

The pressure ordinary families are feeling in my area, just to put food on the table, cannot be overestimated. I am aware of people in my area who go to do their shop on a daily basis and they go to the section in the shop where the food is out of date either that day or the next day because they will get a reduction on the prices. They work out those times and do that simply to cut down on the spiralling increase in costs. Grocery prices have increased by 17% in the past year and the Sinn Féin motion calls on the Government to do all in its power to ensure savings made by supermarkets and large food retailers are passed onto the consumers through lower grocery prices.

Mental Health Reform also contacted me today to inform me of the cost-of-living problems, which I know about, faced by people living with mental health difficulties. People with psychosocial disabilities, who are living with long-standing mental health difficulties, have higher costs of living and are at risk of living in consistent poverty. The Cost of Disability in Ireland report of 2011 showed that the average cost of having a mental health difficulty is between €9,000 and €13,000 per year. This is additional to the general costs of living and now there are the additional increases in the cost of living. This is a significant financial burden for these people to bear. This group is more adversely affected by the increases in the cost of living than other groups.

I know the Minister of State said the Government is not opposing this motion, which is to be welcomed, but it is not enough and the Government needs to go further. The Government needs to implement all the actions in the Sinn Féin motion. The Government criticises Sinn Féin all the time for not coming up with solutions. There are solutions in this motion and the Government needs to implement them.

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