Overwhelming majority of Irish Mirror readers feel new…

Overwhelming majority of Irish Mirror readers feel new cost-of-living measures 'not enough'

An overwhelming majority of Irish Mirror readers feel the Government's new cost-of-living measures are not helping enough, according to our latest poll.

On Tuesday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, along with coalition leaders announced the latest suite of cost-of-living measures, totaling a €1.3 billion bill of once-off payments.

Pensioners, parents and those on social welfare were the biggest beneficiaries of the package.

At the press conference, Taoiseach Varadkar acknowledged that a lot of people are struggling to make ends meet, while businesses wrestle with rising costs.

"The Government has been able to respond dynamically to help people, families, businesses and farmers to manage rising costs over the last year," he said.

Despite this, Irish Mirror readers have had their say on the new measures as seen from the results of several polls on the personal impact the government's announcement has had.

When asked 'Do you think the Government's current cost of living measures are helping enough?' readers voted in the overwhelming majority of no, with 86% of the vote.

Readers further highlighted a lack of confidence in the package on the issue of money woes.

In his announcement, Taoiseach Varadkar admitted there would be no further cost-of-living measures before this side of October's Budget.

We asked readers 'Do you think the Government's measures will help ease your money woes?' with 68% saying they felt like not enough has been done to help mitigate pressure.

A total of 10% of readers also said they felt unsure if their money woes had been eased.

We also asked: 'Do you think the Government needs to give more in the fuel allowance?'

The current rate of Fuel Allowance is €33 per week. You can choose to get the fuel allowance paid every week or paid in two instalments (lump sums) which were introduced as part of Budget 2023, which also increased the number of eligible recipients by 80,000.

Despite this, a total of 84% of readers felt the Government was not providing enough as part of the allowance.

Following the announcement, Finance Minister Michael McGrath, said that it was not possible to help everybody in this package.

He said: “It is a matter of judgement, these are not easy calls to make.

“We recognise that people are under pressure, we have sought to target resources in the best way that we possibly can."