A pensioner has told how she had to sell her car to cope with the rising cost of living crisis.
Ellen O’Neill, 66, from Bray, Co Wicklow joined protesters outside of the Dáil on Thursday where people placed their household bills into a makeshift postbox which was due to be delivered to the Taoiseach.
Speaking to the Irish Mirror, Ms O’Neill said she has had to cut down on spending and has sold her car.
She said: “I’ve only started on the old age pension and I’m finding it very tough.
“It’s very hard with the price of everything going up and we’re just trying our best.
“I had a car and we couldn't afford to keep it, that’s how bad it got.
“I don’t care what they say about public transport, you need a car and I’m living out of the way and attending a hospital.
“I’ve cut down on spending and don’t go out as much and don’t have little treats like going in for tea or a treat.
“Our gas, electricity bills have increased.
“Even bread, milk and eggs, ordinary stuff. It isn’t the swanky things that you like.
“If I go out to do a food shop now I have to plan it, make sure it’s going to last the week.”
Ms O’Neill said she wants the Government to increase the old age pension payment stating “we’re struggling and it’s not fair after working all our lives.”
She added: “The evenings are bright now but when the winter months come in and you’re in all day and you want the heating or TV on, that’s when it’s going to take its toll on people’s mental health.”
Around one hundred protesters gathered outside the Dáil and chanted “heating or eating is not a choice”
The Cost of Living Coalition wants urgent action from the Government to control energy costs, protect incomes, make housing affordable and to invest in public services.
Representatives from the the Union of Students in Ireland, Ireland Senior Citizens’ Parliament, The Rural Ireland Organisation and the Housing and Homeless Coalition were among a number of groups who joined Opposition TDs to share their views on how inflation is affecting people in Ireland.
Sheep and suckler farmer Gerry Loftus travelled from Lahardane, Co Mayo to Leinster House to protest against the Government’s failure to protect citizens against price increases, particularly in rural Ireland.
The 62-year-old who is a member of the Rural Ireland Organisation said the Government needs to tackle the energy crisis because “it’s going to come as important as air or water.”
He told how a butcher in Mayo told him his monthly electricity bill was increasing from €3,000 to €7,000 and “the butcher pointed to the door and said “that door will have to close.”
He also said the land of Ireland should be feeding the people of Ireland.
He said: “We spend €9 billion a year importing food so you can add onto the cost of that to whatever country to get it into Ireland and distribute it around the country.”
Mr Loftus also said rural Ireland will “never bend” to regulations that the Government put on the use and sale of turf.
He said: “We have no objection to the banning of smoky coal but under no circumstances will we allow our tradition, our culture or our turbary rights, which is our constitutional right to cut a little bit of turf in the bog and bring it home and burn it in one’s fire.
“We will not ever accept or surrender our rights.
“If they want to put laws in place, or obstacles let them do it but we’ll break that law and we’ll never ever bend.
“Rural Ireland has given up enough from closures to closures and we will not bend on turbary rights.”
Catherine Clancy, 74, from Malahide in Dublin told how she has stopped using central heating and said she has noticed her bills increasing significantly.
Ms Clancy told the Irish Mirror: “I’m a bit like my mother’s generation at the moment, I’m going around switching off lights where I wouldn’t have thought of that to be honest.
“I’m lucky I’m not choosing between having food and heat and light but I am aware that not everybody is that fortunate.
“There is a feeling out there I think that some people think the older generation have it quite easy and that we're getting freebies.”
Ms Clancy who was representing the Irish senior Citizens’ Parliament at the protest sent a reminder to the Government that TDs will need people’s support if they want to ever get reelected.
She added: “Inflation is so high, what use is €5 that we got in the Budget?
“Young people are here and they’re being forgotten about in this debate.
“They can’t get a place to live and it might be a choice between eating and paying for their rent and I’m hearing more and more that they’re showing up for food parcels.
“Older people are more engaged now with society and refuse to just be talked down to.
“ We do have a vote and I think the first thing a TD has to do is get reelected.
“Once they step into the Dáil, it’s like they forget.
“Older people are more engaged now with society and refuse to just be talked down to.”
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