Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend Deputy Doherty on bringing forward the motion. The cost-of-living crisis is biting every community in the country. In my constituency, I regularly deal with people coming to my clinic with various issues relating to bills they cannot pay. Recently, a single mother whose rent has been increased by almost €300 a month came in. She receives the housing assistance payment, HAP, but her landlord, of course, wants a certain amount under the table. She cannot afford to go anywhere else and there is nowhere else to be found that is cheaper than where she is at the moment. She even considered giving up her part-time job to be able to get more HAP to try to cover the payment. There is a crisis throughout the country for many people, and the Minister is aware of that, as all of us are.

I recently spoke to a man working at a filling station who told me there has been an increase in the number of people who no longer fill their tank. They arrive on a Friday or Saturday with a number of five-gallon drums in the boot of the car and fill them with oil to keep their tank topped up, because they can pay for that as they go along. Many people are in a similar position. I recently spoke to the principal of a local school who told me that every year, the school operates a book rental scheme but that in the past three years, many parents have been unable to pay for the scheme and have been asking the school whether they can pay in instalments and sort it out some other way because they do not have the money available. This is a crisis throughout the country for many working families who are doing their best but simply cannot afford these huge increases in energy costs, number one, as well as increased rents and mortgage interest rates. People may have bought a home and be trying to pay for it, but they see more pressure coming on them in that regard.

The Government can afford to do more. Statistics are put out there and there was a mention earlier of the notion that the is economy going well, but summary statistics hide a lot of individual difficulties, and an awful lot of people have individual difficulties. If a millionaire were to move into my home parish, it might appear as though the incomes of everyone in the parish had increased, but that is not the case. The income level would increase only for that one person and that is the tyranny of statistics. The Minister and the Government need to look past the statistics to the reality of people who are trying to survive but struggling greatly, and take on board the measures we have put forward in the motion. They should give a spring bonus to those who are on social welfare payments and try to find mechanisms, as we have suggested here, to help people who are working hard and trying their best but simply cannot afford to live in this economy. They should take on these measures and deliver for the people who need it so badly.

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