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”.