Cost of living

Fandymo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118615076#Comment_118615076

So because you made bad life choices, it's everyone elses fault? What you you want? A violin solo?

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058232389/cost-of-living

Sorry to hear of your troubles.

Have you applied to the warmer homes scheme? You would qualify to have your house totally retrofitted (External or Internal wall insulation, Attic insulation, proper ventilation installed and possibly a new heating system. This is all free as part of that scheme.

https://www.seai.ie/grants/home-energy-grants/free-upgrades-for-eligible-homes/

tinytobe

The description here about the cost of living in Ireland is sadly a similar situation in Canada. Things are probably worse, for those on fixed income, pensioners and in general older people.

One of the countries which isn't that much affected by that cost of living is Germany. What's a particular problem is the high cost of renting in Ireland.

I also think part of the overall cost of living issue is also the low value of the Euro currency and the EZB not raising interest rates.

B2021M

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118614605#Comment_118614605

I was simply referring to the poster who talked about Czech interest rates. They are not in the Eurozone so their rates are not comparable.

WrenBoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118615076#Comment_118615076

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118615123#Comment_118615123

Choices ?

Fandymo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118615262#Comment_118615262

Well I would imagine I'd have seen it on the news if they'd been forced to move into a 200 year old cottage, up a mountain, miles from shops, transport links etc. rather than chose to live there

Kiith

Feck all we can do other then immediately switch out provider for pretty much everything annually. Got a note to say my monthly electricity bill was to go from €91 a month to €307 a month after the discounts ran out. Switched provider, and it should now be around €150-200 a month now. Still almost twice what it was last year, which is insane, but what can we do about it?

Crazy that its cheaper to switch every year, rather then stick with someone long term.

seamus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118615154#Comment_118615154

Cost of living is a global problem currently as post-covid demand starts to ramp up in general but supply chains are still in disarray. There is very little in reality that our government can do to make a big difference. We're a small boat in a big ocean, we can only try our best to steady our ship until the storm passes.

Russia agitating and other similar politicking around natural resources also doesn't help much.

Abandoning climate change as an issue and resorting to fracked gas or dropping carbon taxes would be a decision to allow long-term damage for a short-term problem.

Supplemental energy payments/rebates based on income & family size would be a reasonable alternative. Say at the bottom end of the scale, anyone reliant on social welfare monthly gets €20 per adult and €10 per child (under 16) which is redeemable directly by their energy provider(s). If you're earning but less than €50k, it's €15/7.50. And so forth. Any household on €100k or more gets nothing.

Keeps the energy costs low for those who need it without creating a "use as much as you want" problem, and which can be withdrawn easily when prices settle down again.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118615076#Comment_118615076

My circumstances are not relevant. But as you ask, I'm in my fifties with a disability and an adult child with a heart condition which means they cannot work. So yes, I have worries.

Something just doesn't add up about your original post. Literally.

I note you haven't answered my query on whether your autistic son receives of any kind of benefit payment of his own, (and given you've posted you're both in your 60s I presume your son is of a qualifying age). Or if you are in receipt of the secondary benefits I mentioned.

Given that, and the tone of your response, I'll leave it there.

I can’t see how the bill is so high either. How many KWs a month is that?

Im a full time carer for my father and the bills in this house are nowhere near that. There’s medical equipment running too.

Because I don’t live here but I’m here all day everyday, I don’t qualify for fuel allowance. I just get the basic 224 p/w.

Edit: but my father gets fuel allowance at his home which is where I am all day every day.

I just went onto bonkers. Assumed you were with electric Ireland, rural location, standard tariff, pay by DD, 600 euro bi monthly

joseywhales

If you think the government has any control over inflation you'd be wrong. Only the ecb can have any effect by raising interest rates and they should do so quickly.

BattleCorp1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118615604#Comment_118615604

And that will hit mortgage owners and squeeze them further.

J_1980

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118615154#Comment_118615154

https://www.inside-digital.de/news/strompreis-schock-so-teuer-ist-strom-jetzt-wirklich

Average electricity in Germany is 36c/kwh far higher than Ireland. If your supllier goes bust you drop into the Grundversorgung at 1€/kwh

difference is:

German people just work and budget. Irish people largely don’t work and don’t budget and ask for government free stuff

Fandymo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118615706#Comment_118615706

Give out about the nanny state whilst asking the government to nanny them.

touts

Eamonn Ryan on the news at one. He basically admitted higher prices were a strategy to force people to retrofit their houses and stop driving petrol and diesel cars. Apparently anyone who is suffering with energy costs should just retrofit their homes now.

He has completely lost the plot. If the FF FG backbenchers don't move against him now none of them will be left in a job after the next election.

joseywhales

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118615645#Comment_118615645

One would hope they had the sense to get fixed rate

BattleCorp1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118615759#Comment_118615759

The banks are already thinking ahead. They have put up the fixed rates already. I'm 3 years into a 5 year fixed period.

ednwireland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118615741#Comment_118615741

if you can't afford 100k for a retrofit and new electric car don't vote green

joseywhales

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118615772#Comment_118615772

I'm 2.2% one year into 15 year fixed. Rates were at their lowest in history, still they are historically low. What were people thinking if they were not locking in these rates? They weren't going to fall much further.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118615741#Comment_118615741

You’ve gotta be on a wind up? Did he really say that?

SAMTALK

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118615810#Comment_118615810

This is Eamon Ryan we.re talking about. Nothing would surprise me

is_that_so

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118615604#Comment_118615604

Quite a few countries are tapping into the pandemic fund so the last thing they need is an interest rate increase. Based on a short surge in inflation the ECB are probably right but the question is just how long this will last. I reckon they won't look at interest rates until the second part of the year. EU predicting of about 5% this quarter and an average of 3.5% for the year.

Meanwhile ICTU are straight out of the blocks!

https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2022/0211/1279220-ictu/

jolivmmx

My mother is an OAP. She rang me in floods of tears. She is so afraid that she will not be able to support herself into her old age. She couldn’t afford the retrofitting, loan or no loan. She will basically be punished for not having a higher BER house, and yet she can barely afford to survive as is. It makes no sense. The spiralling costs are hitting those that cannot afford it the most

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616033#Comment_118616033

She’ll get lots of the retrofit done for free. Go onto the seai website. Even insulating the house will make a huge difference

is_that_so

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616033#Comment_118616033

Take a look here.

https://www.seai.ie/grants/home-energy-grants/free-upgrades-for-eligible-homes

jolivmmx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616083#Comment_118616083

That is really kind of you! Thanks so much!!!

jolivmmx

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/coping-with-inflation-what-s-the-reason-for-such-big-hikes-on-food-1.4799142

this was very insightful!

If her house was built before 1993 then she’ll be priority. Does she get fuel allowance?

https://www.seai.ie/grants/home-energy-grants/free-upgrades-for-eligible-homes/

rob316

While the 200 quid off the esb is welcome, its a piss poor package. 20% off public transport is nothing and it doesn't kick in till April!

Nothing for the working man as usual. Energy prices are out of the governments control so I can't lay blame on them but there is plenty they could of made temporary cuts to. Things like we'll knock 10% off motor tax, give 10% back on the student contribution fee if you have kids going to college, tax relief on childcare costs. Something for the masses who get up everyone morning and go to work.

If you sit at home on your hole and live off the state, you have done well out of this.

jolivmmx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616105#Comment_118616105

Her house was built in 1990. I must look in to the fuel allowance for her.

When I was going to college in Dublin, she used to only be able to put the heating on for a couple of hours a day. Things like grapes were luxury fruit to us. She never drinks coffees in a cafe. She always brought packed-lunches to work.

I earn a more now than all of my family put together (I help her as best as I can. This makes her sad, as she wishes that she was independent. She resents depending on me after working all her life. Yet, she needs the money so she has to accept). I have lived poor with her. I have lived comfortably in my present state. If I hadn’t grown up without, I would not be able to fathom what people were giving out about. And yet, fuel increases and petrol increases for people can be the difference between buying a few nice packets of biscuits and chocolates versus beans-on-toast for the month. These people are living shrewdly already. There is no reserve. They literally just don’t have the money. They have nothing left to give in taxes or higher prices

jolivmmx

If you are a CO starting off in the civil service, you start at €25,087. After tax, you will get €1,837. This is bloody insane.

so, imagine you are sharing a room in a house in Dublin. That is €1,000 gone. And then transport, €120 gone. And then food, €400 gone. And then Netflix is another 20. You literally have €300 wiggle room. Or €75 per week. This is your rainy day fund. You need to cloth yourself at some point. And pay phone bills.

Forget health insurance. Forget holidays abroad. Forget eating out. Forget saving for a mortgage. Forget children.

And COs have degrees. There are lots of cleaners, restaurant and retail staff, secretaries in the same bloody position.

I don’t mean to pick one profession. I just wanted to highlight how mad it is.

Increasing the price of living (whether it be for green policy or other) is just not viable for these people

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118615706#Comment_118615706

I think Germans have some kind of eco-charge on electricity. The country has a welfare system where people also ask for free stuff as well....

Prices in supermarkets seem to be higher in Ireland, than in Germany, same as car insurance. And then the main issue in Ireland is housing and the exorbitant high cost of rent. Renting in pricy German cities like Munich and Frankfurt is cheap compared to Dublin.

Geuze

The media would give you the impression that huge numbers are living "hand-to-mouth".

Yet during COVID, regular savings surged.

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118615706#Comment_118615706

Such and ignorant statement. I don't even know where to start with it.

jolivmmx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616306#Comment_118616306

The problem is that my mother worked all her life, until she reached 66. She doesn’t want welfare. She wants to be independent and be able to live comfortably.

There are so many costs that we don’t even think of. These costs are negligible until you live on the edge. The part of the IT article where that widow mentioned about the price of bread jumping from €2.0 to €2.50 really hit me. If somebody has available funds of €30 per week, a just of 50c on one of the staples is very significant. It means that she probably spends €2.50 extra a week on bread. That is €2.50 less for a very tightly controlled budget.

That woman in the article has 315 euro per week and no mortgage or rent to pay. She’ll be getting 200 + 125. She’s not doing too bad if I’m honest.

There’s plenty of people have nowhere near that much after they take out just their rent/mortgage cost.

J_1980

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616033#Comment_118616033

Sell the house and buy a warm apartment for the proceed.

but wait this is Ireland, daddy government should hand out an A3 rated semi for everyone. Dennis Obrien pays for them all

lol

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616340#Comment_118616340

The price of bred. meat, sausage and other food items in Germany is cheap as ever. Only fruits and vegetables have gone up, fruits a bit more, but it's not that much.

What really went up in Germany is the price of petrol, currently around Euro 1.75 per litre ( used to be around Euro 1.40 ) and apparently also natural gas for heating homes.

I know there was a lot of hoohah about that TD the other day saying people need to shop around, etc but he kind of has a point. I laughed at the woman on Claire Byrne who said she was using turning her oven on to keep warm. What the actual fook?

During lockdown the majority of people couldn’t travel so they made serious saving on their fuel costs. The amount of people that posted up banana bread and loaves of all kinds all over social media increased too so people do know how to cook if they put their minds to it. There was a shortage of fecking flour!

We’re just so used to convenience and we really have to take ownership of choosing the most costly, convenient option. That’s on us as individuals and not the government.

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616372#Comment_118616372

No sure we only do that for lazy scrounging fuckers. Why look after people who work or have worked all their lives.

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616422#Comment_118616422

Mortgage rates are lower. That could mean a mortgage being 200 quid cheaper a month which is a huge saving.

jolivmmx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616372#Comment_118616372

Why should people be coerced to sell their homes? This is a house that she spent most of her adult life in. You are either stupid or heartless or both.

and as a side-note, the price of her house wouldn’t even buy her an apartment in Dublin. Go figure

jolivmmx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616470#Comment_118616470

you obviously occupy the echelons of a cosy upper-middle class background. You have been fortunate enough to be insulated from the difficulties that other folk may face. Heating is bloody expensive. How can you cannot understand this. And if you have barely enough to live, then heating the house for numerous hours in a day is a non-runner

Dyr

I guess all the lockdown fan bois will be moaning now about the massive cost of living hike they caused

You know all that free money? Guess whose pocket it was coming out of. Gimps

Fandymo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616686#Comment_118616686

It's bricks and mortar ffs. Memories are in your head, you don't need to put your head against a wall to retrieve them. Why does she need to live in Dublin?

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616702#Comment_118616702

I wouldn't consider this a product of the pandemic though. We had literally 0 inflation since 2005 or so. Groceries in lidl and Aldi haven't increased that much either. This really is an energy crisis rather than inflation across the board but it is having an impact on a lot of other areas. I'd fully expect though we will see the price of oil coming down in Q3/Q4 this year which will have a positive impact on the cost of living.

jolivmmx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616715#Comment_118616715

I had an aunt who married well. Her husband was a multi-millionaire. He was so detached from reality. He would regularly profess how easy it was for any child in this country to have a good education. He said that if they didn’t have a good school in their local, they could take the bus to another school elsewhere. His money gave him a distorted view of reality. He was foolish enough to think that he understood complex issues when he had no personal experience. He was very unsympathetic to those that did not have, despite his millions

And to be honest, he would be probably on Boards telling the proles to live within their means and it’s all just bricks and mortar from his **** off McMansion

Fandymo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616735#Comment_118616735

That is quite the story. Who do you think will play you in the movie and what has it got to do with me?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616701#Comment_118616701

Ah here. I live on 224 carers allowance a week and I don’t qualify for fuel allowance either. Carer’s allowance is means tested which means my spouses income was low enough that I get full rate

I’ll stick on the heating before id ever consider using the oven as a heat source.