Cost of Living Issues
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-26
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Pearse Doherty (SF), Donegal

Many people would love to be in the Minister's shoes and have the luxury to wait this out until next year until budget 2027 but they are not in that position. We have 320,000 families across this State who cannot pay their electricity bills. One in four households cannot pay their gas bills. Tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of other families are paying those bills but are really struggling, finding it difficult to make ends meet at the end of the week, working every hour God sends them and doing everything right, yet still they find it tough because groceries, insurance and rent have gone up. All the pressures of life are bearing down on them and they are looking at a Minister who has a surplus that is now twice what was projected just a couple of weeks ago but who tells them to hang in there, to tighten their belts, to hold tight and that the Government will come to them maybe in October or might have something for them in January. People need support right here, right now. The Minister needs to understand that there is serious pressure on families at this point in time and they are looking for a Government that will listen and respond to them. The way the Minister needs to respond is to bring forward measures that recognise the pressures families are under right now.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-26/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:04+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-26