Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)

The cost-of-living is too high but the Government is in complete denial about this reality. It seems to believe that the cost-of-living crisis is over and it is ruling out a cost-of-living package while households struggle. It is clear the Government is totally out of touch. Every week in my clinics, I have people coming in to me who are struggling to make ends meet, with high energy costs, rent and childcare and fuel costs, not to mention the student fees that the Government is now determined to increase. People just cannot take it any more. They need support from the Government.

The weekly shop in particular is going up. Between 2020 and 2025, the cost of a pound of butter has increased by 58%, the cost of a litre of milk has risen by 38% and the cost of a loaf of bread has risen by 29%. I have not seen any data to suggest that wages have gone up by the same amount. These are all basics. Families with young growing children face the choice to provide food or to manage other bills. The scale of the suffering is clear. We have seen tens of thousands of calls to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul from people seeking help to pay for food. Having access to food is a basic in a functioning society, not a luxury, yet too many families across the State are experiencing food poverty. How is this acceptable to the Government? At the same time, we see supermarkets operating in Ireland making eye-watering profits. It is certainly not the primary producers like farmers who are benefiting from this. For example, Tesco announced in April that it had generated an operating profit of over €3 billion between its Irish and British stores.

While this is just one example, it is plain to see that profiteering is ongoing across the sector. There is a lack of transparency around supermarket profits, specifically through their stores based in Ireland. The Government needs to hold these companies accountable and all options have to be on the table, including direct intervention to stop supermarkets from hiking prices without justification. The Government must introduce a cost-of-living package without delay. Families across the State are depending on it and it needs to step up to the plate.

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