Cost of Living

Ireland is now the most expensive country in the EU for goods and services. Energy prices, in particular, are in the stratosphere – with consumers here paying nearly €1,000 more for electricity than the EU average.

Prices for a range of goods and services are a whopping 46% higher in Ireland than the EU average. These extortionate costs are impossible to meet for workers on average incomes.

Even before the current inflationary spiral, Ireland’s chronic and sustained underinvestment in public services meant that costs for basic services eroded people’s incomes. In other comparative countries, basic services – like healthcare, transport, education and childcare – are free or heavily subsidised. In Ireland, these costs are sky high.

More and more people are going into debt to pay for necessities and many are at serious risk of poverty.

The Social Democrats are committed to tackling the high cost of living. As a first step, we would bring down those costs that are within the gift of the government to control – the cost of public services.

Our Cost of Living Priorities

• Make housing affordable and build 22,000 social and affordable homes every year
• Ensure healthcare is free at the point of access by implementing the Sláintecare reform programme
• Provide parents with affordable childcare options – and create a not-for-profit public model of childcare
• Make primary and secondary education genuinely free by fully funding school transport, schoolbooks and other classroom resources
• Bring down the cost of bills including insurance and energy

Find Out More

You can read more about our policies and plans in our Cost of Living policy document, linked below.