People in Ireland are struggling. Families, workers, pensioners, lone parents, people on disability payments — the rising cost of fuel, food, and everyday essentials is pushing households to the edge. A 2.7% rise in the cost of living over the past year sounds like a statistic until you translate it: that is an extra €800 a year for a pensioner, €1,200 for a lone parent, and up to €2,600 for a family of four. These are not abstract numbers. They are choices people cannot make — between heating and eating, between school costs and groceries.
The Government has been too slow, and too comfortable. That ends now.
Here is what I am calling for immediately:
Targeted supplemental payments for six months. Those on social protection — pensions, disability payments, Child Benefit, the Working Family Payment, the Living Alone Increase — should receive enhanced monthly supports for the next six months. We know targeted interventions work. The 2022 doubling of social protection payments was equitable and meaningful. We need that same urgency again, sustained over time, because the full impact of this crisis is not yet over.
Reduce what the State charges families right now. Halve insurance levies and A&E fees. Reduce toll charges and public transport fares. Eliminate Leaving Certificate and mock exam fees — their reinstatement was tone-deaf and must be reversed. Freeze "voluntary" school contributions and have the State meet the real cost of running our schools. And increase the universal childcare subsidy from €2.14 to €3 per hour — that single change could reduce weekly childcare fees by nearly €40, which means something real when you are standing at a checkout.
A one-off energy credit for every household. Delivered through electricity companies, this is a straightforward, fair intervention that reaches everyone. It will not solve the crisis alone, but it is an immediate act of solidarity that the Government can take right now.
The people of Ireland are not asking for the impossible. They are asking for a Government that sees the pressure they are under and responds with the same urgency they deserve.