‘We are listening’: Taoiseach defends Government handling of cost-of-living crisis

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has insisted the Government is not out of touch with people experiencing hardship as hundreds of people protested against cost-of-living increases across the country on Saturday.

About 20 protests took place across the country over the rising cost of living especially in relation to gas and electricity prices.

The protests were organised by the Cost-of-Living coalition, which is made up of political parties such as Sinn Féin and People Before Profit as well as trade unions, civil society groups and student unions.

Mr Martin said that he accepted that people were under financial pressure particularly with rising energy costs heading into the winter, but he said the Government had moved to help people by changes in the €7 billion budget in September as well as €4 billion in once off aid measures.

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“I think we need to have perspective – the Government has acted. We have intervened with an unprecedented budget and an unprecedented cost of living package of over €11 billion – that is, if you combine the budget with the cost-of-living package,” he said.

At a protest in Dolphin’s Barn in Dublin, People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith acknowledged householders had received some respite with support on energy and increased welfare payments over Christmas.

However, those supports do not deal with the “systemic issue” she said, which is that workers and social welfare recipients do not receive enough money.

“We want to see price controls on energy. There is price gouging by the energy companies and it is filtering down into food and transport etc,” she said.

Speaking at Cork University Hospital, where the Taoiseach officially opened a new stroke unit, Mr Martin said the Government had made “a very significant intervention” to contribute to alleviating the pressures on people.

“That said, I acknowledge that people will be under pressure over the winter period, but I do believe the interventions will make a telling difference. That is a key issue in terms of the supports to keep jobs and businesses viable over this winter period where energy costs are so high for people.”

Mr Martin said the Government was acutely conscious of the need to balance providing assistance people to meet the rising cost of living without triggering inflation, which would have disastrous consequences for the Irish economy, and he believed they had achieved that balance.

Meanwhile, outside the swimming pool in Rathmines students from UCD joined the protest.

PhD students are pressing to be paid a living wage during their studies. “It seems to be only now on the back of the cost-of-living crisis that people seem to know why we are advocating for this,” said Rory Burke, a doctorate student in plant biology.

He receives €18,000 a year, but other PhD students receive as little as €15,000 each.

He is hopeful a review of PhD students to be completed in January will see them receive a wage that allows them to make ends meet.

“We are hoping there will be proper engagement with this. We need to keep the pressure on.”

Another student Cristina Perea, a PhD student in computer science and mental health said they are classed as workers but do not receive a wage that reflects that status.

Pensioner Mary Kennedy said she attended the rally in solidarity with younger people. “It is important for us to show some solidarity with young people who cannot get on the housing ladder and are deprived of a free education,” she said.

“I have never seen homelessness like it is now. I have never seen as many people lying on the street. That’s bad. Everything you look at is getting higher and higher in price. Nothing is getting lower. I feel sorry for the people now.”

Catriona Twomey, who runs the Cork Penny Dinners, which provides meals for homeless and the needy, spoke at a demonstration in Cork City.

“We fed over 1,000 people today in Penny Dinners and we did the same yesterday, and the same the day before and our numbers are growing every day – it’s out of necessity that the people are coming to us, they have to come to us to survive,” she said.

“It’s just letting us know that something is seriously wrong in this country.

“Nobody should be hungry, nobody should be without a home ... and what about the people sitting in the A&E waiting for hours and hours to be seen and these can be very elderly people.”

According to one of the organisers of the demonstration, Cork North Central Solidarity TD Mick Barry, who put the attendance at about 500 people, the Government needs to do more to help those facing a long hard winter as food and fuel costs rise all around them.

“The Government are only using a fraction of their firepower to help households struggling with the cost-of-living crisis. What’s being done is welcome, but it does not go far enough, and much more effective measures could be taken to stop the profiteering that is going on all around us,” Mr Barry told Cork Beo.