A recent survey, carried out by Coyne Research group on behalf of Barnardos Charity found that 41% of parents said they had to skip meals or reduce portion sizes so that their children would have enough to eat.
A quarter of parents say they have to borrow money to feed their children and 12% are using food banks.
The General Election Candidate for People Before Profit in the Mayo Constituency Joe Daly says this is happening in one of the wealthiest countries in the world.
He believes that the cost of living crisis is the biggest issue in this election and that the government’s once off payments will not solve the problem.
Working people need a break, he argues, and therefore his party would introduce price caps on essentials such as food and energy, and cap mortgage interest rates at 3%.
Mr. Daly also raised the issue of energy costs need to be tackled saying “A key part of our election manifesto is to return the ESB’s not-for-profit mandate. Our electricity prices were the lowest in Europe when the ESB was a not-for-profit publicly owned company. But the ESB was turned into a commercial company and our electricity prices have increased to be one of the most expensive in the EU".
