Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

A large cohort of Irish people are struggling with the rising cost of living and, unfortunately, receive little Government support or media attention. These people are Ireland's middle class. They are cash poor and time poor. They are the people who go out to work every day and do not earn enough to be well-off but earn too much to qualify for many State supports. Many of these are young families who are struggling with the soaring cost of living, the cost of groceries, rising energy prices and even the rising cost of fuel, which hits these people hardest as they spend longer in their cars every week commuting to work. This situation is compounded by the fact that some are paying sky-high rents because they earn too much to qualify for social housing or the housing assistance payment, HAP, and cannot possibly buy their own homes on the open market at affordable rates. Others are being crucified by rising mortgage interest rates.

A constituent who came to see me recently is now afraid to open the mail as his mortgage repayments have doubled in the past year. He simply cannot afford any further hikes. This constituent is one of tens of thousands of people struggling to pay their mortgages after the European Central Bank, ECB, increased interest rates ten times since last July.

The cost-of-living crisis is also an enormous problem for older people on fixed incomes and pensions. They have seen their real incomes decline as they also struggle with the rising cost of living. These people are growing increasingly disillusioned. Understandably, many ask why they should get up early and work for a living. The squeezed middle class never feel like a priority and yet they continue to make a huge contribution to the success of our economy and society. All of this is happening while the media report that Ireland will have a record budget surplus of €10 billion this year. In an interview last year, the Taoiseach stated that he wanted the Government to commit to significantly reducing the cost of living for working and middle-income families and to make work pay. He said that people who go to work should earn enough to have a decent standard of living. Unfortunately, the previous budget measures of small tax credit increases have been swallowed up by the rising cost of living. These people continue to find themselves worse off rather than better off. Will the Taoiseach look after the squeezed middle class, older people on fixed incomes and pensions and the most vulnerable in our society in the forthcoming budget?

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