Coping with inflation: ‘What’s the reason for such big hikes on food?’

Measures to address the cost of living crisis "won't make much difference", says Bernie O'Raw (85), a widow living in Bluebell, Dublin 12.

“It’s a start. Maybe it will calm people a little, but it’s not enough. People will need more again in a few weeks.”

Describing herself as “very fortunate” with the help she gets from her seven children, she has nonetheless had to “curtail” expenditure in recent months – particularly on heating.

“I turn it on when I get up in the morning for an hour,” she says, sitting in her living room. “I am very lucky the sun shines into this room so it stays warm for a few hours. Then I turn it on again for a few hours in the evening.

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“I am very blessed with the family. They bring me some food, various bits. One of my daughters bought me a tonne of logs before Christmas. That is a great help.”

She is dependent on the State pension of €252 a week. She qualifies for the fuel allowance (€33 a week until April), the living alone allowance (€22 a week) and the household benefits package (€35 a month). Her husband died 30 years ago “so there was no accumulation of money” in a pension.

Electricity rebate

Asked if she welcomed the increase in the one-off electricity rebate and the once-off payment of €125 for fuel allowance, she sighs. “Yes, it’s good but then it will be gone.” She is thinking less of herself than about her children’s families, her neighbours and renters, who she feels got “no help”.

And the measures won’t do anything about the increased costs she has noticed since Christmas, she adds.

“The basics – bread, milk and tea – the things that really matter. Even locally, the bread I buy for €2 before the Christmas is now €2.49. What’s the reason for such big hikes on food?

"I don't have a mortgage, so I am lucky. My daughters help me do a Tesco shop online about once a month, and I shop local. That is where you are paying a bit extra too." Her other costs include house insurance, property tax, broadband, bin charges, her mobile phone – "the unseen expenses".

Careful with money

“I have 13 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. I like to remember their birthdays and send them a card at least. All of that costs but they are things, as little as they are, that make life worthwhile – to be able to do these things for family.”

All her life she has been careful with money and “always managed”. Now, as well as rationing heating, she is thinking of other cuts she may have to make. She will “think twice” about going out with friends and family “to shows, the pictures, lunch”. Asked how she feels about that, she says it “bothers” her.

“Why should we have to curtail our lives? As you get older you need comforts. I don’t think that’s selfish. If we are happy, comfortable we are less of a burden on the State, have less need for carers or going into hospital.

“I worry for the older people who are worse off than me, and the young families struggling. Once the cost of living goes up, it doesn’t come down and it’s the less well-off will suffer with it.”