Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has warned that the cost-of-living crisis could go on for "years".
Households have been struggling to make ends meet since inflation began to sky rocket after Russia invaded Ukraine. The Central Statistics Office published a report that found Irish groceries are the second most expensive in the Eurozone.
There have also been projections that we are entering a global recession due to a number of factors. Mr Varadkar was responding to Sinn Fein's Pearse Doherty, who had been calling for an emergency Budget to tackle inflation, at Leader's Questions when he made the grim statement.
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The Fine Gael leader said: "The cost of living crisis is happening right here, right now. It'll happen all the way through to the Budget and it will continue after the Budget.
"That is truth of it. We are facing a global inflation crises and it won't end because of any budget whether it is an emergency budget before the autumn or whether it is one in autumn.
"This is something we are going to be grappling with for months, if not years, ahead."
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