'Times are really tough': How the cost of living is affecting people from all walks of life

Lorraine O'Mahony of Tobin's in Gurranbraher who are providing food with help from donations in the locality for the needy. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Staff at Tobin’s Deli in Gurranabraher on Cork City’s northside see the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on people every day.

“People are scraping together a fiver mid-week to buy electric — we are seeing that happen more and more,” said manager Patricia Beardsley.

The owner Colin Tobin has decided to start giving away €100 worth of gas or electricity to customers every week. Hundreds of people have applied to be in the running for the first giveaway.

"We can see that times are really tough for people, we just want to do our bit to soften the blow," he said. 

The cost-of-living crisis is hitting people from all walks of life. 

Jacqueline, a 36-year-old woman living in Macroom with her brother and father, works two jobs, both paying a little over the minimum wage. 

She is worried about how her family will heat their home this winter, even though they all work multiple jobs.

“I work nights in a local residential unit in town and I look after an elderly man in his home,” she told the Irish Examiner. 

Often I go straight from one job to the other, tonight I will clock on at 10pm, at 8am I will go to my other job, and I won’t sleep until 2pm in the afternoon. I get paid €10.50 an hour."

Jacqueline moved back home in 2008 to care for her mother who has since passed away. She would like to move back to Cork City and live with her boyfriend, but at the moment she can’t see how she can ever afford to. She has been on the social housing waiting list for nine years and five months.

“We could never afford to rent together," she said. 

When my boyfriend and I tried to rent a house through HAP, two different landlords refused us outright just because we were getting the payment. It’s put our life together on hold."

Jaqueline says she has been diagnosed with a mild anxiety disorder, and that financial worries greatly impact her mental health.

Caitriona Twomey from Cork Penny Dinners says her charity now feeds roughly 3,000 people a week through food hampers and meals. 

Caitriona Twomey of Penny Dinners: 'Every section of society' is suffering. Picture: Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision

Increasingly, working people are reaching out to her because they cannot afford food after paying rent, bills, and travel costs.

“They will come in for their lunch, having not eaten anything that day,” she said. 

It’s frightening how many people are suffering at the moment and it is in every section of society."

Robbie Ó Hallmhuráin is a teacher living in Glin, Limerick, commuting to Fermoy for work every day. He says fuel costs him around €25 each day, making it impossible to save money.

“The cost of fuel means that my wife and I, who is 39 weeks' pregnant with our first child and is also a teacher, don’t manage to save money at the end of the month,” he said.

“We both work hard because we want to buy a house, but right now we don’t know how we are going to cover childcare costs next year if fuel costs continue to rise.

Hardworking people are being let down by this Government. We make good money and things are tight, so it’s a terrible time for those who are worse off.” 

Shana Hobbs is a 49-year-old living just outside Kanturk with her husband and their son. She worries that she will lose her work-from-home job because her internet connection is so bad.

“Five years ago, we emigrated here from South Africa when our son was 10 to get away from the everyday violence there,” she said.

"In the last year, everything has become so expensive that we’ve had to really tighten our belts.

“My husband was travelling into the city to work as a mechanical fitter, but he can’t find permanent work, and the cost of fuel now means that it’s almost not worth it for him to travel in for the odd job.”