Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

If those payments were not provided, the figures would be even starker. The Minister cited a figure of €44 weekly but she knows what it takes when people do their shopping, pay extra medical expenses and everything else that goes with the rising cost of living and inflation. The Government this week published the summer economic statement, which states on the first page that there was "little, if any, evidence of [economic] ‘scarring’ from [recent] shocks". I would call record waiting lists and homelessness deep scars. What is also happening is that where people cannot access basic medical care, they must try to find or borrow money to try to get it. One system is feeding into the other in respect of the expense it is costing people to live.

Celebrating gross domestic product, GDP, and tax revenues is tone-deaf when people are struggling more than ever with the cost of living. The success of the economy is measured in how it cares for its people. We must see what the reality is like. It is not only to be seen in respect of fuel poverty but also in fuel deprivation. We are in July but we will be heading into the winter again before too long. We are already conscious of the number of people who are scared to put on their heating and live in the way they should be living, enjoying a quality of life. This is because they are scared of not having the money or of having to borrow and then owe money.

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