Numbers seeking help with household bills in Cork has doubled

New figures show a more-than-doubling in the number of Cork people seeking help with paying their household bills.

In the first three months of this year, Cork applications for additional needs payments to help with bills rose by 121%, compared with the same period last year.

Additional needs payments are granted by the Department of Social Protection (DSP) to people facing an expense they cannot pay from their weekly income or other sources, such as savings.

Between January 1 and March this year, the DSP in Cork received 272 applications for additional needs payments to help with household bills, against 123 last year.

PAYMENTS

Recipients do not need to be in receipt of social protection payments, but must fall below set weekly household incomes. 

For a single person, that threshold is €564 per week; for a couple with no children, it’s €664; and for a family with one child, it’s €765.

Items covered under the scheme include bills, funeral costs, and housing.

In the first quarter of this year, the DSP granted 68 of those requests, or 25%, against 34 of in the same period in 2025, or 28%.

Those figures are contained in a reply from social protection minister Dara Calleary to a parliamentary question put down by Thomas Gould, Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central.

DATA

The data also shows that 434 people in Cork applications for assistance with clothing costs in the first quarter of this year, a slight increase on 428 in the same period last year.

The DSP received 584 requests for assistance with housing costs, a 24% decrease on the same period last year, when 584 people made similar requests.

Requests for assistance with funerals were up 26%, from 126 in the first three months of last year to 159 in the same period in 2026. 

Requests granted in that period – 73 – were up 55% on last year’s 47.

Overall, the number of requests for additional needs payments in the Cork area in the first quarter of 2026 – 2,340 – is down 5% on the number of requests in the same period last year, which was 2,466.

Similarly, the number of requests granted in that period this year – 1,038 – is down 4% on the number granted in the first quarter of 2025 – 1,038.

Reacting to the figures, Mr Gould said that with the weekly fuel allowance now at an end since May 1, many families were now unsure how they would pay household bills.

“It is clear that people, now more than ever, need an emergency budget,” he said. 

“Families were struggling last year but they are now in crisis.” 

He added that the increase in demand for additional needs payments was a clear sign that people could not afford to live.

“We need to see electricity credits reintroduced. Removing them has led to this increase and to thousands of others who don’t qualify for this payment sitting in cold homes.” 

In his response, Mr Calleary said that anyone who felt they might have an entitlement to an additional needs payment was encouraged to contact their local community welfare service, to call 0818 607080, or to apply online via mywelfare.ie.