Dáil blackout brings cost of living crisis into spotlight for Government

RTÉ News​

12-07-2025

"Have you paid the electricity bill, minister", came the pointed quip from Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore in a Dáil chamber unexpectedly thrown into darkness on Wednesday morning.
A power outage had temporarily shut off the Leinster House lights and, as luck would have it, the black-out happened just as the Government was insisting it is not trying to hide the cost of living crisis in the political shadows.
Moments earlier, the Dáil had been locked in debate over surging grocery prices and TD claims some families are spending more than €3,000 a year on buying the basics from supermarkets.
As the lights flickered back on, Deputy Whitmore took the opportunity to intensify the political spotlight.
"When the Government talks about the crisis in grocery prices it tends to do so in the past tense.
"It talks about rapid price increases when Russia invaded Ukraine, as if the crisis ended there" Deputy Whitmore continued.
"However, what is not acknowledged is that those prices never came down and now grocery costs are skyrocketing again, while the Government sits idly by and watches it happen.
"Part of the privilege of being in Government is that the Minister of State can intervene.
"The big question the Minister of State needs to answer today is why she has done none of these things. Why is the Cabinet acting like bystanders, narrating a problem instead of doing anything?" Deputy Whitmore asked.
The claim was something the Government could no doubt have done without.
However, given the Opposition's renewed focus on the cost of living crisis this week, and the Coalition's view that no specific package to address the situation will be included in this year's budget, it is one likely to be returned to in the weeks and months to come.
Cost of living crisis
The reason for that renewed opposition focus on the cost of living crisis is largely due to developments outside of Leinster House in recent days.
On Tuesday, children's charity Barnardos published the findings of a new survey of 1,000 families, conducted on its behalf by Amarach research.
The survey said 40% of families who took part have borrowed money to pay for their children's essentials, and that one in three households went into arrears on their electricity bills at least once between April 2024 and April this year.
In addition, it also found that 40% of parents have skipped meals so their children had enough to eat, and 12% have used a food bank in recent months.
Those figures were followed on Thursday by new Central Statistics Office findings showing that food inflation (4.6%) increased by more than twice the rate of general inflation (1.8%) in the 12 months to June, with some families now paying upwards of €3,000 per year for groceries.
And they came in the same week as a lack of clarity continued over the student fees saga, with students protesting outside of the Dáil and Trinity College Dublin issuing invoices of just over €3,000 to some students for the new academic year.
Add into the mix the latest Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks opinion poll which last weekend suggested cost of living (32%) remains the second most important issue for voters behind only housing (51%), and the raft of numbers and statistics point to one conclusion:
The cost of living crisis debate has not gone away, and remains a weak spot for Government which the Opposition is now keen to target.
Dáil debates
That targeting was most keenly felt on Wednesday, when - after the Leinster House black-out was quickly resolved - the spotlight was soon shone firmly on the issue.
Hitting out at the situation during a Social Democrats motion seeking to address "price gouging" by supermarkets, party TD Gary Gannon said families across Ireland are having to choose "between eating and heating" while party colleague Rory Hearne said food banks have confirmed the biggest growth in people attending are those in "working families".
Similar concerns were raised by Labour's Ged Nash, who said "if it walks, talks and acts like price gouging, it very well may be", before dismissing previous promises to take action without ensuring reforms were introduced as the equivalent of the Father Ted reference "can anything be said for another mass?"
And they were joined by Sinn Fein's Pearse Doherty who accused Government of "sitting on your hands" over the issue, a claim the Coalition was quick to reject.
Responding to the criticism and further allegations that previous promises to address the high price of groceries failed to stop those prices rising higher, Fianna Fáil's Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise Niamh Smyth said the Government is not ignoring the issue.
"You walk into a supermarket, come out with a handful of items and will have spent €50 or more.
"I appreciate that is a huge challenge for parents. In today's world, to have parents going without feeding themselves to ensure their children are fed is very difficult," Minister Smyth said, adding that Government is taking steps to resolve the situation.
These steps, she said, include plans to give the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission greater powers to take action against supermarkets, a view repeated on Friday by Fine Gael's Minister of State for Retail Alan Dillon.
Some progress, perhaps, but on the wider point of whether a cost of living package is needed in the upcoming budget is causing some division too, with Sinn Fein TD Johnny Guirke claiming while special supports are needed none are being promised as there is "no election this year".
That stand-off had been repeated a day earlier over the student fees controversy, with Fianna Fáil TD for Further and Higher Education James Lawless coming under similar pressure over whether help will be provided to households struggling with rising costs.
During a debate on the potential €1,000 increase in student fees this September, taking place in the Dáil as students watched on from the public gallery, Minister Lawless was told by Independent TD Seamus Healy that Government is "throwing students under the bus" if they go through with the fee increases.
That view was repeated by Labour's Spokesperson on Education and Youth Eoghan Kenny who said when you have to choose between education and costs "you realise how little you are valued by the State", and by Sinn Féin's Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire who said "there are Cabinet ministers who think the cost of living crisis is over".
Those claims were roundly rejected by Minister Lawless, who insisted Fianna Fáil is the "party of education" and that while he agreed with the sentiment of some of the Opposition barbs many were in his view "cheap populism" and "points scoring".
But with rising costs and growing financial pressures in households nationwide, it is an open question over who voters would rather believe.
Extra budget supports or not
Politically, it all leads to one brewing pre-budget row, even this far out from October - and one which may prove difficult for Government to overcome.
In recent months, the Government has clearly and repeatedly outlined the economic constraints it may need to work within over the coming period due to the ongoing financial certainty in the wider world.
But while that is a widely accepted view, the Coalition cannot ignore the financial pressures being faced by the general public either.
That is a political dilemma and one that the Opposition calls for greater cost of living support is likely to increasingly target, and also one which a Government caught between national need and individual household circumstances may find increasingly difficult to avoid.