Essential minimum living costs in Ireland increased by almost 20% since 2020
The Minimum Essential Standard of Living (MESL) report was published on Tuesday by the Vincentian MESL Research Centre at the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (SVP). It found that living costs in Ireland have increased by 1.8 per cent in the past year and 18.8 per cent since 2020.
The report highlights that those on social welfare are not receiving enough to reach the minimum essential standard of living, which are services necessary to meet physical, psychological and social needs. And one-parent households are most at risk of financial inadequacy.
As an example, the report noted that a one-parent household with a primary and second-level child only meets 82 per cent of the household's minimum needs when dependent on social welfare support. The cost of the needs of a child aged 12 and over remains the highest age group at €158 per week. Social welfare meets just 64 per cent of needs for this age group.
The cost of the needs of a primary school age child is €98, while the needs of a preschool-age child costs €72 per week. Saint Vincent de Paul has also stressed that the national minimum wage - which is €13.50 an hour for workers over the age of 20 - "continues to be a concern".
Since last year, the minimum outgoings for a single adult in minimum wage full-time employment has risen by 5.6 per cent. A worker in this scenario is making €131 less a week than they need to to meet minimum needs.
The report has cited rising private rents in Dublin and an increase in home energy and food costs for this rise. In conclusion, the report highlighted that many household situations, particularly when reliant on social welfare, continue to be at risk of income inadequacy.
It continued: "This is especially pronounced for single-adult households and families with older children. Although recent policy measures, such as the introduction of the New Baby Grant and the expansion of school meals and book schemes, have had a positive impact, they are not sufficient to close the gap for all household types."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Independent
6 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Saint Vincent de Paul in Wicklow on food price rises and how they help local families
David Loane, who is SVP area president for Wicklow and covers the region from Bray down as far as Arklow, said the 'cost of living is certainly a much bigger issue this year'. Where energy bills were the biggest challenge in recent years, particularly after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, he said 'we're noticing a lot more people now looking for help with food – just food, basic food". 'If you just look at the basic basket of food – meat, butter, cheap dairy, bread – all of those items have gone up significantly in the past 12 months,' David said. 'While the Consumer Price Index (CPI) produced a rate of inflation which looks as if it's okay, it just doesn't reflect what's happening in the shopping basket,' he added. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) last week confirmed the rate of food inflation since June last year has been higher than the general rise in prices across the economy. Food inflation rose by 4.6pc, more than double that of the general CPI, which rose by 1.8 per cent in the same period. For example, the national average price of full fat milk per two litres was up 27 cents, butter rose by €1.10 per pound and the average price of Irish cheddar per kilogramme increased by 95 cents. A white sliced pan increased by six cents in the year to June 2025. "We're seeing a much wider spectrum of people contacting us,' David continued. 'Typically in the past we've had people who were on low income, people on low social welfare or social protection payments, who run into an unexpected crisis like the washing machine breaks or whatever, and we'd have to help them out. 'But now we're seeing people who traditionally you would have thought should be okay because they're earning a reasonable wage. But they're struggling. It's definitely the food, the increase in price of food, which has suddenly catapulted over the past 12 months. 'Now a lot of people are reducing the amount they're buying and they're maybe going for less branded goods to try and cut down on the cost. Certainly the requests we're getting are more and more for help with food vouchers.' Food vouchers are the donation of choice and have replaced the traditional food parcels, so people can make their own decisions as to what they buy. The SVP still has to buy the food vouchers, and some supermarkets give a discount of 5pc, but it's not enough to meet the demand. "Probably that's about the extent of what we get in terms of help from the main supermarkets on the voucher of buying it,' David said, adding that the levels of donation in recent years to the society has taken a hit too, 'because people don't have the money to give, or they're trying to spread it around to other deserving charities as well'. ADVERTISEMENT Aside from handing out food vouchers, imparting advice is also a big part of what the SVP volunteers do, as a way of helping struggling families budget better. 'If people are struggling and there's very little food, we don't think twice about it, we just give them vouchers. Now, if they're consistently coming back to us, we may then do a more in-depth analysis of what's going on. Because we can't afford to become another branch of the Department of Social Protection in handing out kind of weekly help. We'd be out of money fairly quickly. "We go and meet them and chat to them and see, first of all, if we can help them with the budgeting side of their income. So what are they spending their money on? And is there a better way that they can budget? And many of them are very open to that. 'Typically this time of the year, we would see a dip in the request for help, you know, kids are off school, summer months, and things would quiet down. But things haven't quietened down this summer. I'd say requests for help are up about 20pc. I think that graph is continuing to project upwards. 'I read a recent quote recently where someone described it quite accurately – you could see two cars in the driveway, but nothing in the fridge. It's the unseen poverty that's going on, where people are really struggling. And because they're working, they don't think they should ever contact the Society of Vincent DePaul. But actually, they need as much help as some of the people we are helping.' David added that very often, 'the complexity of the request for help can be quite distressing'. The Government's 'ongoing failure' to tackle the cost of groceries was recently highlighted by Wicklow Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore, who warned families across the county 'are being left behind while supermarket giants continue to profit'. 'Since 2021, grocery prices have risen by a staggering 36pc,' she told the Dail on Wednesday, July 9. 'That's an extra €3,000 a year on the average family's food bill. This is not just inflation, it's a crisis,' she said. 'Every family in Wicklow is feeling the pinch. They know exactly what they're sacrificing from their household budgets just to keep food on the table. And yet, the Government continues to sit on its hands. In 2023, the Government promised to get a handle on this issue. The minister talked tough and said prices would come down. That hasn't happened. Families are still waiting.' Her party brought forward a proposal to seek more transparency, to find out 'who is making the profits, and on whose backs'. 'We called on the Government to regulate the big profit-makers just a little more. To put in place basic transparency measures so we can see where the money is going and why prices are rising. This isn't about small corner shops or local retailers. It's about the five major supermarket chains in Ireland, Dunnes, Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, and SuperValu,' she said. "The grocery sector is worth €15bn. It's an incredibly profitable industry. And yet, the Government refuses to ask these giants to publish even the most basic data. They refuse to step up to the plate and demand accountability.' David believes there could be some assistance provided by the State but unlike where one-off payments were given in the past to help with energy bills across the board, 'they could target the people who really need it the most'.
Irish Examiner
14 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Charity calls for targeted measures to help financially insecure families with soaring cost of living
Irish families have been left exposed to growing financial insecurity linked to the spiralling cost of living, and targeted measures must support them in this autumn's budget, a leading charity has said. In its pre-budget submission, the Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) said with one-off-measures for all households now a thing of the past, it was vital to get the approach right to help families who need it most, as it expects to receive 250,000 calls for help this year. 'Poverty in a wealthy country like Ireland is a policy failure, but our next budget offers a vital opportunity to put financial certainty and dignity at the heart of Government decision-making,' SVP's head of social policy Louise Bayliss said. Rising poverty and homelessness rates should not be happening in a wealthy country with a growing economy. The charity said the core adult social protection rate must be increased by €16 a week, while increases should also be made to the Living Alone Allowance and the introduction of a weekly cost of disability payment to cover the additional costs facing people with a disability. Child income supports should also be increased, according to SVP, as current rates fall 'significantly short of what is needed". Other measures it called for included the benchmarking of third-level student grants with the cost of living, increasing the fuel allowance by €9.50 a week, and the piloting of a community energy advice service. The charity's national president Rose McGowan said the latest figures on poverty, which show around 45,000 more children are now living in consistent poverty in Ireland, demonstrate the clear need for action. 'These are not abstract statistics — they represent children growing up in cold bedrooms, going to school hungry, and missing out on the social and educational experiences that are fundamental to a healthy childhood,' she said. 'We know from our experience on the frontline that the right policy choices do make a difference — we saw it with the introduction of free schoolbooks and hot school meals. Budget 2026 must continue that momentum.' Read More MABS sees 10% surge in families in debt due to soaring cost of living
RTÉ News
04-07-2025
- RTÉ News
'It's just mad money' - Shoppers struggling with food price hikes
There have been more than 103,000 calls for help to St Vincent De Paul this year and almost half were requests for help with food. A further 14% were appeals for help with food as well as another issue. Food prices have increased by 24% in the last five years, according to the Central Statistics Office. "It's terrible," says one man shopping in Dublin. "My wife complains I'm spending all our money. I shop every day and every time I go to shop it's gone up. It's gone up." Other shoppers in the city say they have noticed prices rising, particularly with certain items. "Toilet roll, that's gone up. Butter's gone up. Everything," one young mother said. "Yeah, it's gone up now. Even with the vouchers. It's just mad money. "I think bread is gone up loads. Eggs is mad money as well and the baby food is expensive - not her formula - but more so just like the little packs and jars." "Bread's gone up," says another man. "Brown bread's gone up a lot - it's huge. They still have the usual carrots and special offers but you don't want to be eating carrots every day." CSO Statistician Anthony Dawson, who is responsible for the Consumer Price Index, said that overall the price of food and non-alcoholic beverages was up 4% in the last year. In the last five years, he said that food prices have increased by 24%. Mr Dawson added that certain items have increased notably in the past year. "Beef prices, they're up 20% compared to May 2024 ... and the price of milk is up 18% while butter is up 12% in that same time period. Something else we've seen is the price of chocolate is up 17% compared to this time last year." Mr Dawson says these are increases on top of already pretty substantial rises over the last five years. "Butter and milk they're both up 46%. Bread is up 26%, and we've seen potatoes increase by 17%." Coffee and tea prices are up 25% and 17% respectively, he added. Mr Dawson says that Ireland has already experienced record high inflation in 2022 and while it subsided in 2023, it was still high. "Again we're seeing that, come 2024/2025, still the prices continuing to increase." The total calls for help received by the St Vincent de Paul this year is 103,113. Of that number, 50,471 cited food (49%) while 14,655 (14%) cited food and another issue. The organisation tracks the cost of a basket of goods and services considered necessary to live at a socially acceptable minimum standard of living. Vincentian MESL (Minimum Essential Standard of Living) Research Centre Manager Robert Thornton said that it has noticed a change in how people shop since its previous research in 2020. "Five years ago, when we last talked to members of the public about this, they had agreed that you do most of your grocery shopping in one of the more discount retailers. "This time round, surprisingly, they actually came to agree that really all the supermarkets, with the range of special offers available, with some supermarkets offering vouchers or discounts with loyalty card schemes, that really they are much of a muchness in the end." As prices rise, Mr Thornton said some people are feeling the pinch more. "As costs have gone up by in and around 20% for food and approximately 19% overall, if we look at households reliant on social welfare, ultimately, we find that social welfare rates haven't really kept pace with the change in minimum living costs." He said the various one-off top-up supports, some of which were targeted, and some like the electricity credits which were provided to everyone, helped offset some of the spike iand things have improved compared to 2023 when living costs were at their highest. "But nevertheless ... we're really only now at approximately where we were in 2020 despite social welfare rates being in euro terms much higher now than they were then." Mr Thornton said the proportion of living costs now is no more significant than it was five years ago. Lone parent households and those with a second-level child or a teenager tend to be in deep income inadequacy, he said, where social welfare meets less than 90% of their minimum needs. "Our minimum basket is describing what people agree you should be able to have ... and they're going to have to do without at least some of that because their income just doesn't go far enough." In a statement, the Department of Enterprise highlights analysis by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) in June 2023 that found no evidence of excessive pricing in the grocery retail market. The department said it has continued to review grocery price inflation in Ireland and that it remains broadly in line with the European average. Minister of State Alan Dillon - who has responsibility for retail - has requested the CCPC provides an update to the 2023 analysis, the statement added.
