Social Democrats conference hears call for emergency budget and freeze on rents

The Social Democrats have called for an emergency budget and for rents to be capped for three years to tackle the cost-of-living crisis in Ireland.

At the party’s national conference in the Gresham Hotel in Dublin, joint leaders Roisin Shortall and Catherine Murphy said good healthcare and housing should not be commodities available only to those on the highest incomes.

It was the first in-person conference for the party since 2019 because of the Covid pandemic.

During their joint speech, the two party leaders outlined a series of proposals for measures to deal with the rising cost of living.

Ms Murphy told the conference: “For too long the state has outsourced its responsibilities to the private market.”

Ms Shortall added: “This generation of young people will be the first who will be worse off than their parents.

“Housing costs are out of control, childcare costs are the equivalent of a mortgage and energy prices are skyrocketing. Interest rate hikes of mortgages in the coming months will add further to the squeeze on families.

“Inflation is now at 7.8%, a 38-year high.

“People are increasingly going into debt to pay for necessities and more and more people are at serious risk of poverty.

“We must therefore target measures at those who need them most.”

She added: “We need to take action with an emergency budget now.

“The Social Democrats would put 300 euro into the pockets of workers earning up to 50,000 euro, using a refundable tax credit.

“Also, create a hardship fund so those most at risk of food and fuel poverty can access emergency payments immediately.

“Increase the social welfare rates, like pensions.”

She proposed a social welfare increase of 10 euro per week and demanded that the hourly minimum wage be raised to from 10.50 to 12.90 euro.

Ms Shortall continued: “Workers should not have such a struggle just to get by; they need a living wage.”

Ms Murphy told the conference that the coalition government’s biggest failure was the inability to provide secure and affordable housing.

She said: “Today single people are forced to continue to live at home, they house-share, rent tiny apartments at exorbitant cost until they are in their 30s, 40s and even older.

“What kind of society are we building when affordability is defined by government as being 450,000 euro in Dublin, 400,000 in Cork or Galway?

“Do they know a mortgage at these amounts requires incomes of at least 114,000. What planet are they on?”

She added: “At the heart of the housing crisis is an affordability crisis. The Government should be doing everything it can to drive down prices so that people on average incomes can aspire again to own their own home.

“We must introduce a three-year ban on rent increases to improve security for renters.”