The government ‘still have an awful long way to go’ to tackle soaring cost of living, says Longford mother

When Junior Minister Seán Fleming made his controversial comments about “shopping around”, Longford mother, Hazel Robinson, was a guest on Claire Byrne live.

Hazel and her family have a number of expenses, not least of which is the travel expense for regular trips to Dublin where her daughter, Gypsy, gets the medical care she needs for Cystic Fibrosis.

“I have to say, I was firstly shocked and angered that anyone could come out with such a statement,” Hazel told the Longford Leader.

“As a full time carer for so many years, we’ve always looked for bargains, always had to make choices. We live week to week, like most families. This is nothing new, so to be told to ‘shop around’ didn’t sit well with me.

“It left me thinking that I now have an even stronger belief that certain people really have no clue how the normal everyday person lives in Ireland and it scares me that anyone could be so out of reach with reality. Especially when that person is a political leader put in place by these very same people he is meant to be representing.”

While the high cost of living affects everybody differently, Hazel is feeling the pressure more and more these days.

“Constantly topping up on electricity; heating the house across the winter months; grocery shopping; it’s just mounted pressure,” she said.

“Then when you’ve an added problem like nct or car breaking down. You’ve got to really scramble for an extra few quid… Living in rural Ireland you depend on your car. We live in Drumlish but my boys attend Newtownforbes. No car, no school. It’s that simple.”

Over the years, the main increase for Hazel and her family is the cost of fuel. And, with Gypsy now old enough to drive, those hikes are hitting harder than ever.

“Gypsy (pictured with mum Hazel above) is now a young lady - extremely independent. She’s crossed so many milestones. She’s on the road now herself. Her insurance at the start was around €4000 a year,” said Hazel.

“She is in receipt of a disability payment and paying roughly half of it a week towards insurance. She passed her full license, which thankfully brought the price of insurance down. But now she faces having to pay extra on fuel to get to hospital etc.

“So is this the start of her falling into poverty when she’s left with very little to live on a week? It’s scary times for younger people nowadays. It really is and I feel extremely sorry for them.”

Also bearing the brunt of major fuel hikes in recent years is local Cystic Fibrosis campaigner Jillian McNulty who travels three times a week to Dublin for dialysis.

“The cost of anyone at regular hospital appointments is insane,” she told the Leader.

“It’s €80 to €85 to fill the car and, depending on traffic, I might need to fill it twice a week. Wear and tear on the car on over 1,000km a week adds up quickly, so the car needs a service more often.”

The cost of snacks, lunch and drinks for the day to keep her fed and hydrated is a further blow to her bank account.

“I bring food with me to have during dialysis,” she said. “With my Cystic Fibrosis, calorie intake is vital and I’m supposed to have approximately 5,000 calories a day, so I have to stop on the way home for a proper meal,” Jillian explained.

“I’m lucky as St Vincent’s supplies a parking card, so I don’t have to worry about the cost of parking on top of everything else.”

There are a number of changes that need to be made, according to Hazel, starting with the price of electricity.

“I feel it’s very unfair on families that, for instance, use prepay power. The whole reason they change is because they simply can’t handle a big bill once every two months. So they opt to top up instead,” she explained.

“It’s in complete fear of being switched off. Yet Prepay Power is one of the most expensive electrical companies in Ireland. We are basically being made to pay more because we can’t afford to pay.

“I remember the last electric company I was with. If the full amount of money wasn’t in my account I would get charged an additional €10 from the company plus another €10 from permanent tsb. Why are big companies and banks allowed to get away with these types of charges?

“It mightn’t seem like a lot to some. But for most it’s little things like this that keep you down. As the old saying goes ‘the rich get richer and the poor get poorer’ if the government sits with their hands in their pockets, they are not doing anyone any favors. They need to stand up more for the people.”

Hazel also feels that the development of local communities would be a beneficial way to tackle the issue.

“If you’ve a health issue in county Longford, nine times out of ten we’ve to travel out of the county,” she pointed out.

“If a child here needs an eye appointment they’ve to travel to Athlone. This all runs at an extra cost. It’s small little things like this that can make or break you. So maybe it’s not just a government level issue, but also comes back to local council levels and how life can be improved. Rent cap would be another thing.”

Since the start of the pandemic, Hazel has been diligently running a Facebook group called Updates Ireland which was initially a forum for Covid-19 updates. Since then it has grown to encompass over 180,000 members, giving her a firsthand glimpse into how people feel about the major issues in our society.

“It’s quite scary to see the sheer amount of people really feeling the pinch at the moment,” she said. “People have just gone through such a hard couple of years. They're tired and just want a bit of relief from the strain of it all.

“We went through the last while with the mantra, ‘we’re all in this together’.

“Well, lets just hope that those in power stand behind their words and start coming up with some solid long term solutions and not trying to stick a bandaid on what’s deeply wrong with our country.

"The recent announcement by the government is a start, but they still have an awful long way to go.”