'You never know what’s going on behind closed doors': Cork families burning refuse to heat homes

“You never know what’s going on behind closed doors,” a St Vincent de Paul (SVP) representative said, as some Cork families burn refuse to heat their homes.

Jason Boyle, SVP southwest regional vice-president and area president for East Cork, has said that families burning their rubbish to stay warm is “the reality of what is going on in Cork today”.

A significant number of Cork families are reaching out for help to cope with sky-high costs of food, basic utilities, and fuel.

“There are hardships that you might not even consider that people around you are facing,” Mr Boyle said. “You and I could arrive home and don’t give a second thought about putting on the heating, but there are others who have to think long and hard whether they can afford to heat their house or feed their child that day.”

SVP received 4,645 calls for help from struggling families and individuals in Cork in October. This is expected to reach a peak of 1,650 calls per week in December. “This is our busiest time of the year,” Mr Boyle said.

He continued: “There is a preconception that we only help the poorest of the poor. There are plenty of people with a car in the driveway and, from the outside, things might look great, but inside that front door it is a different story.”

Mr Boyle said that without SVP, many families facing hunger and freezing temperatures would have nowhere else to turn.

“I have seen multiple cases where someone has been made redundant for whatever reason, they go to get their job seeker’s and their fuel allowance and are told, ‘No, sorry. When you are unemployed for the guts of a full year, then we will think about giving it to you.’ You need to be on job seeker’s for 312 days before you are entitled to it. What are you supposed to do then, when your children are sitting in a cold house?”

Speaking at the launch of the annual car draw earlier this week, SVP southwest’s regional president, Mary Frances Behan, echoed Mr Boyle’s comments: “The overriding theme we are seeing this year is that, in addition to struggling and vulnerable people, the cost-of-living crisis is really squeezing lower and even middle-income workers, as their expenses continue to rise, whilst their earnings remain the same.”