Sinn Féin TD for Dublin South West Seán Crowe has demanded that Budget 2023 be a recognition by Government of the enormous pressures on workers and families and that the response is targeted and sensible measures that will give some relief from mounting costs and spiralling inflation.

Speaking ahead of today’s Cost of Living Coalition march to the Dáil, Teachta Crowe said:

“The government cannot keep ignoring this cost of living crisis and the huge pressures people are under. The time to act is now.

“We see headlines in the papers, ‘wake up call for Government’. How many wake up calls have they had now? Energy costs, food prices, homelessness, addiction, mental health.

“Certainly not enough to do anything it seems. Look at the homelessness crisis. Well over ten thousand without a home to call their own. Over three thousand of them children.

“Tánaiste Leo Varadkar says it’s a breach of the social contract. Leo Varadkar has been sitting at the Cabinet table since day one of the Fine Gael Government in 2011.

“Families are watching their bills come in, with no idea how they will pay them. Food costs grow higher by the week. Energy costs go up like clockwork every few months.

“People are at breaking point and they need help urgently now. Cost of living relief must be front and centre of Budget 2023.

“We are heading in to the winter months and it is crucial that supports are available to people when they need them.

“We needed an emergency budget before the summer. Micheál Martin said the people could wait until October. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil don’t get it. They’ve never gotten it.

“The austerity that they inflicted on us all from the ruins of the Irish economy in 2011 haunts us still.

“Sinn Féin has brought forward detailed, costed and deliverable proposals to address the cost of living crisis. The government must deliver these policies.

“We have to stand up for families hit by the cost of living crisis to ensure they get a break without delay. This Government definitely won’t do it, but it is not their children who will go hungry and cold when the long nights set in.”