Fundamental needs - Living below the fuel poverty line

Two reports out yesterday illustrate how hard life has become in Ireland for elderly people and for thousands of people struggling to survive below the minimum UN definition of a basic standard of living.

A HSE study makes it clear that if the icy weather gripping Europe swept across Ireland, the toll on elderly people could be disastrous. That’s the inescapable conclusion to be drawn from the report showing that higher fuel prices, coupled with cuts in allowances, could increase the number of avoidable deaths among the elderly during winter months.

Meanwhile, a TCD report emphasises that the income of most families who depend on Jobseeker’s Benefit is inadequate for a basic standard of living. Based on UN principles of what constitute a person’s physical, psychological, spiritual and social needs, it also concludes that poverty and social exclusion will continue in Ireland as long as the minimum wage and social welfare payments are not linked.