Mayo view: Positive action needed to stem inflation rise
by Auld Stock
INFLATION.
The very word sends shivers up the spines of our country’s population. The prices of food items on the shelves have rocketed sky-high.
And just wait till the electricity bills come through our doors. And on top of the Electric Ireland increases, the price of gas has gone though the roof.
Thank goodness for the gas being produced off the coast of Mayo. Where would we be without it?
What is difficult to understand is how commodities such as vegetables, which are grown in this country, are so expensive, much dearer than in England and other European countries.
Opposition politicians are clamouring that the autumn budget should be brought in immediately, that families cannot wait until October to see what our government has in store.
The most vulnerable people in the country – pensioners, young families, people with special needs and persons with long-term illnesses – should be given first priority when it comes to social welfare increases.
It is understandable that some opposition politicians will promise the sun, moon and stars.
Such politicians are playing a dangerous game and are not behaving in the best interests of the people of our nation.
Deep down they know their demands will never be met. However, as they say in the publishing business, it makes for good ‘copy'.
The war in the Ukraine, masterminded by the cynical monster Putin in Moscow, has many European countries up in a heap and Ireland, a small nation, is proving exceedingly vulnerable as the war progresses with no end in sight.
The above words will prove of little comfort to the underprivileged in this country who are fearful of what lies ahead in the next few months.
Those people must remain uppermost in whatever framework the government chooses to adopt to give some crumb of comfort to those who are now living in dread, fearful they will be unable to meet the enormous electricity and gas bills coming their way.
The older people in this country, many of whom worked in jobs for a lifetime and who retired without pensions, are in a very vulnerable situation.
People who worked in the public section of our country are on fairly safe ground.
However, those in the private sector, who paid exorbitant taxes over many years, now realise their hefty PAYE contributions are not worth a toss.
The government is being harassed on all sides to give relief to many sectors of our population.
Our legislators must be bold and inventive, and come up with a budget which will be of assistance to the most vulnerable in our society.
There is an urgent onus on government to come up the best possible package to lift the gloom and doom.
Failure to do so will be a shame which will not be easily forgotten.