Irish Examiner view: Ireland's energy poor are also afflicted by hunger

People face a stark choice of putting food on the table or heating their homes

One in three households are already living in energy poverty, according to an ESRI report.

What are consumers to make of the confusing signals being sent out about the performance of the Irish economy? Upbeat one minute, downbeat the next; able to sustain all sorts of financial initiatives while twisting with anxiety over inflation.

To some extent, this is a consequence of the preconditioning that is taking place for the public sector pay round. It is also a product of various balloons being floated to see what happens to them in the run-in to the budget this autumn. Special interests are doing what used to be known in rugby circles as “getting their retaliation in first”.

One set of predictions that must be taken at face value is that of the ESRI, which has concluded that three in 10 Irish households are already living in energy poverty. Household bills could now rise by as much as €2,000 a year and over €3,500 when the cost of filling your car is included. That will make the ratio 40%.

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The number of households in energy poverty — where more than 10% of a person or household’s net income is spent on energy bills — has already hit a record high of 29%, above the previously recorded high of 23% in the mid-90s.

Community leaders say that, “in rapidly increasing numbers”, people face the choice between putting food on the table, buying back-to-school clothes, or heating their homes. While inflation continues to race away, it is most likely that there will be economies everywhere with general attempts to get by with much less.

With this turn of affairs prevalent in people’s minds, it was perhaps a strange time for the small- and medium enterprise group Isme to raise the spectre of people selecting “optional unemployment” as part of its submission to Government.

“We believe it exists, especially where there is a capacity to work in the grey economy,” says its statement.

“It is a difficult and contentious issue,” said the organisation, correctly. Whatever its extent, there are bigger challenges at play right now.

Anti-poverty campaigner Jack Monroe, in her Guardian series ‘The heat or eat diaries’, warns that dealing with deprivation requires time, effort, energy, organisation, impetus, an internal calculator, and mental fortitude. It will produce a ticking health time-bomb, she says. A warning for us all.