INCREASING pressure with utility bills and mortgage rate increases are ensuring there are a growing number of the working poor turning to charity as the cost-of-living spirals and people find themselves unable to make ends meet.

Gerry Garvey of the Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) told The Echo that lower-paid working people are ‘struggling’ with the increased cost of living. “We are seeing pressure with mortgages to an extent. Pressure with utilities to a much bigger extent. I call them the new poor. It has been developing over the last two years. Lower-paid working people who would previously have been able to manage themselves are now seriously struggling with the increased costs,” he said.

Mr Garvey, the South-West regional coordinator with SVP, said families are struggling and looking to St Vincent De Paul for help. “It could be two people from the same household coming to us looking for help or often the head of the household or very often the wife. They are struggling and looking to us for help.” Sinn Féin TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire has called on the Government and the Minister for Finance, Michael McGrath to introduce mortgage interest relief for homeowners to urgently address the continued hikes in mortgage interest rates.

Deputy Ó Laoghaire said borrowers are paying thousands of euros more in interest this year. “In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis where ordinary workers and families are struggling to get by mortgage holders are seeing a large increase in their interest costs because of interest rate hikes by the ECB.

“The hike we saw last week, was the fifth hike we saw since July, meaning that borrowers will be paying thousands of euros more in interest this year and others are likely to see their interest rates increase in the current period,” he added.

“This is the right time to introduce timely, targeted and temporary mortgage interest relief,” said the Sinn Féin TD for Cork South Central. “There are very few families that can budget for an increased cost of up to €2,000. It is a huge hole in a family’s finance. This affects a very large amount of people with almost 200,000 on trackers, 129,000 on standard variable rates and 113,000 mortgage accounts with non-banks and vulture funds, particularly vulnerable to these situations. I would urge you to listen to people who urgently need this help.” 

Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central Thomas Gould echoed his colleague's sentiments. “Ordinary families are under pressure and struggling to pay their bills. Interest rates are going up. People are terrified because they don’t know where they are going to get the money from to make up the difference to pay their mortgages.

“A lot of people feel that they are trapped. They are working every hour God sends, tightening their belts as much as they can and they are still struggling to pay their bills and to look after their families,” he added.