The lack of progress towards a living wage has allowed the gulf of economic inequality in Ireland to rise as working families are priced out of the housing market and crushed under a constantly rising cost of living crisis, according to Wicklow Sinn Fein TD John Brady.
Speaking on Monday, Brady said “One million households are facing higher energy costs from this week. This will set families back €50 a year. This follows on from a €100 increase last year. Ireland is currently locked in a cost of living crisis.”
Brady continued to state that raising taxes, such as the carbon tax, is not the solution as it will result in more difficulty in paying bills for low and middle-income families.
“The government seeks to impose a fourfold increase in carbon tax on working families while allowing big industry polluters off the hook. Increasing taxes does not help low and middle-income families to change to modern fuel efficient cars or to upgrade their homes. It just makes it harder for them to meet their bills,” said Brady.
Sinn Fein’s spokesperson for Employment Affairs and Social Protection concluded by saying that he believes Fine Gael’s market-led approach is not working and is only contributing towards an unaffordable cost of living.
“Rents are out of control, with costs rising another 7% last year. Fine Gael’s market-led approach is doing nothing but making the cost of living in Dublin completely unaffordable and is having a detrimental impact of people’s ability to live, study, work, save for a house, or even start a family in some cases,” concluded Brady.
