Some elderly people in a Tallaght housing estate are taking refuge in cafes in a bid to try and stay warm as soaring heating costs bite.
Well known homeless advocate and Aontú rep for the area, Saoirse Ni Chonaráin says,
“It is heartbreaking to see this in Kilnamanagh. These are people who have worked all their lives, contributed to society, paid their taxes and yet in their older years they are extremely vulnerable and have little control over spiralling cost of living expenses as they are on set incomes, namely pensions”.
“I know of one café where a lady in her 80’s sits for hours trying to keep warm. If she had to stay at home and try and heat her home it would cost her a fortune, money she simply doesn’t have.
This is a woman who would never have dreamt that she would have to do this. The café owners are so nice and let her stay there and keep her tea topped up but it’s no way to live. There are several more like her who are forced to do this .They also go around supermarkets and sit in libraries”.
“Energy bills have soared and despite the government trying to distance itself from this, it has direct control as it hiked up Carbon taxes, something we in Aontú find to be politically and morally indefensible in this current economic climate. The fact is the Government took a staggering €4 Billion from taxes on energy and fuel last year. Official figures show that Carbon Tax is now the second largest component of tax on fuel, second only to VAT .Aontú was the only party to vote against the Climate Action Bill which paved the way for these unjust increases.
Its damaging effects can be seen now in the way elderly people are really feeling the pinch.
Their working lives are over and at a time when they should be able to relax and enjoy themselves, they are at the mercy of soaring cost of living bills that they simply can’t absorb.
I am seeing more elderly people are turning up for food and hot drinks at our homeless outreach, Shoulder to Shoulder, something I established many years ago. We head out every Sunday to do a soup run on Moore Street and provide the homeless with food and toiletries during the week.
Numbers of elderly people have really increased, and it is extremely sad to see. As well as really needing the help we give, these people are lonely as rising costs have severely curtailed any hope they have of a social life and human connection is absolutely vital to them”
