Kildare TD calls for mini-budget to support working families

KILDARE South Labour TD Mark Wall has said families and workers in Kildare are “barely surviving” amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, as the Labour Party called for an emergency mini-budget in the Dáil.

Speaking during a Labour motion on the rising cost of living, Deputy Wall said people contacting his constituency office in Kildare South were struggling under mounting financial pressure, with many unable to keep pace with soaring household bills, housing costs and childcare expenses.

“The people who are coming to my office in Kildare South are barely surviving,” he told the Dáil. “Yet these same working people would have been described as comfortable not so many years ago.” The Labour TD said young families, workers, carers and small business owners were increasingly unable to cope with rising living costs despite being in employment.

“Every single day of the week, I have people telling me they are under pressure – young families and workers who earn too much to qualify for social housing but nowhere near enough to buy their own home; small businesses stretched to their limits, with some forced to close; and carers and older people afraid to turn on their heating simply because they cannot afford the bills,” he said.

Deputy Wall said the Government has failed to grasp the scale of public anger over living costs and claimed the “social contract has been torn up” by the coalition.

“Previously, a decent salary was enough to help people buy a home but now it is just enough to get them from bill to bill,” he said.

The debate came as Labour tabled a motion calling for a cost-of-living mini-budget, including targeted energy credits, a €100 grocery supplement through child benefit payments, cuts to school transport fees and the abolition of State exam fees.

Opening the debate, Labour TD Gerald Nash said working households were bearing the brunt of a “cost-of-living permacrisis” and criticised Government decisions in Budget 2026.

He said Labour’s proposals would provide “almost €1,000 in income supports for working families” and accused the Government of prioritising VAT reductions for the hospitality sector over supports for PAYE workers.

Deputy Wall said immediate intervention was needed rather than waiting until Budget 2027 measures are announced later this year.

“For many of them, it is raining heavily now,” he said. “If they have to wait until October for help, many will not be able to put their heads above the floods.”