Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)

During the last budget, the then Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, claimed there was no need for cost-of-living payments in the budget because, "inflation has now returned to normal rates." He said inflation would be around 2% this year. What a load of rubbish, gaslighting people that the cost of living was actually becoming more affordable, when the dogs on the street know that it is not. He has now swanned off to Washington to be on €600,000 per year and is not bothered but ordinary people are left with the highest inflation in two years, with over 4% in food price inflation and 3.3% energy price inflation. It will be a cold, hard Christmas for many people.

Economists are saying this will last for six months. The cost of 1,000 litres of home heating oil has shot up by €80 in the past month alone, affecting nearly a million households. Last week, the Government voted down our People Before Profit Bill to retrofit private rented properties, condemning hundreds of thousands of households to drafty homes, high energy costs and high carbon emissions long into the future with the headline that inflation figures do not even account for housing costs. They are going up too, dramatically in some cases. If you are a Dublin City Council tenant or a HAP tenant, you are facing rent increases of up to 50% from April and the plan is to roll this out across the country. The Government knows that too but it does not care. After housing costs, 57% of HAP tenants and 43% of local authority tenants are already living below the poverty line, as are a third of private renters. Tenants are already protesting the rent hikes and they will show the political establishment what they think of it in next year's by-elections.

Disabled people and carers are also fighting back. The budget took upwards of €1,000 out of their pockets in nominal terms - worse in real terms - and they simply cannot afford it. They are calling for an emergency cost-of-living payment before Christmas so they can put food on the table and keep the heating and lights on. They will be protesting outside the Dáil next Tuesday to demand their rights.

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