Cost of Living Issues
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-10
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Pearse Doherty (SF), Donegal

The latest increases in food prices expose the Government's bogus justification for ripping away the cost-of-living supports. The ESRI was very clear: lower-income households felt worse off as a result of the budget. We can argue over and back all the time but the lived experience is very clear. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald stood here earlier today and outlined that 70,000 more households cannot pay their electricity bills than the same time a year ago. This is not us saying it, but the CRU. These are families. They could not fit into Croke Park and the Aviva together. That is just the additional number of people in the past year who cannot pay for their electricity. Whatever the Minister might say, suggesting the Government is doing this, that and all the rest, 70,000 more people are worse off. Those are the bare facts of it.
Market researchers tell us that food inflation is 6.8% and the CSO tells us it is 4%. Five large supermarkets control 90% of the market. The Government refuses to stand up to these vested interests over prices that are out of control. The Government is not ending the rip-off or getting prices under control and all it has done is withdraw the supports. Does the Minister accept the reality of all of these figures and recognise that the State has to intervene and support those individuals in a cost-of-living package that the Government wrongly decided to withdraw at the wrong time?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-10/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:36+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-10