Debate contribution: Cost-of-living Crisis

Debate contribution by Mr Colin McGrath on 19 October 2026.

MLA: Mr Colin McGrath
Party at the time: Social Democratic and Labour Party
Date: 19 October 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Private Members' Business
Heading: Cost-of-living Crisis
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5796073

Text

No, because I have only started.
I have not even got to read my first paragraph. I am delivering the preamble from my head. If you want me to give way so that you can discuss the points that I make, perhaps you should let me make a few of them first. We are about trying to find a solution collectively to help people. Most of what we have focused on in here thus far has been about from where the money comes, but the bottom line is that people who need help do not care where it comes from. They do not care whether it is British or Irish money, your money or our money, or from your Department or our Department. They just want help. I want to finish by moving the debate towards that.
Yes, go ahead. I have got to the end of my opening paragraph.
They just want the help. They do not care where the money comes from. If you are starving, you are interested in food, not in where the money comes from. If you are cold, you are interested in heat, not in where the money comes from for that heat. It is on the basis of humanity — feeding people, heating people who are cold — that we want to see a solution. I will move on. I will take no more interventions, because the interventions are not meant in the spirit of developing the debate. They are more about trying to stymie the debate and win political points. I have detailed whom, we feel, the debate is for. People need to know that help is coming, what it will mean for them and when they can expect it. That is the test of the motion. It asks our Executive to agree a Budget and bring forward a package of measures that will ease the pressure on households. That should be a basic expectation of any Government. Over recent weeks, people have watched far too much division and angry political argument. A lot of people, especially those in our community who are in a desperate scenario, are fed up with it. They switch on their television after a day at work or after caring for a relative and hear another row, but the electricity bill is still sitting on the kitchen table; the shopping costs more than they expected; the child still needs shoes; the car needs to be repaired; and there is nothing left for people to put aside. People are entitled to ask why their daily struggle does not command the same political energy as they see in other debates in this place. We should listen to that frustration, because the institutions were meant to give people confidence in a better future. Confidence is damaged when the arguments are loud but the answers to everyday problems are so difficult to find. Families in every community are worrying about the same bills tonight. We have a responsibility to respond to them together. For example, in South Down, the pressure on rural households deserves particular attention. For someone living outside Newcastle or Kilkeel, a car is essential for getting to work. I think about domiciliary care workers, for whom a car is essential. Taking children to school or attending a hospital appointment needs transport. Advice to use public transport is of little comfort if the service does not fit your shift or does not reach your home. For a household depending on heating oil, the problem includes finding the money for a delivery in the first place. You can see the tank running down and still be unable to afford the next order of oil. A package designed around households on the gas network alone would miss that reality. Ministers must ensure that rural families and people who use home heating oil can access meaningful support. They must also recognise working households that are just above the eligibility threshold but have little left after essential costs have been met. Having a wage coming in does not mean that there is money to spare, and that is a reality for so many households. Let us think of our nurses, for example, who are now thinking about taking industrial action because, once again, pay disparity looks as though it will widen. We have consistently argued for practical interventions on the cost of living. Our previous cost-of-living action plan made the case for emergency help for households. The leader of the Opposition, Matthew O'Toole, has called for Departments to work together and engage with the organisations that understand the pressures that people face. We have all campaigned, for example, for holiday meal payments, because we know that a child's need for a proper meal does not stop when the school gates close. Parents should have certainty about that support rather than being left to worry about whether it will be there. That remains the approach that we should take: identify the costs that push families into difficulty and use the powers that are available to reduce them. An effective package could strengthen access to emergency assistance, help households facing unaffordable energy costs and protect children from hunger. It should include clear advice so that people receive the support to which they are entitled. It must recognise the additional pressures on disabled people and carers. Some households simply cannot turn down the heating or reduce electricity use without consequences for their well-being. Community organisations and advice services should help shape the response. They know where existing schemes reach people and where someone in real difficulty is falling through the gaps. Their work deserves support. We cannot keep expecting charities and volunteers to absorb the consequences when government provision falls short. The motion also refers to Budget 2027 in the Republic of Ireland and measures aimed at easing household pressures. There will be legitimate arguments about the choices that are made there. Our argument does not depend on endorsing every decision in that Budget; the point is that households here deserve a clear response from their own Government. They should be able to see the measures that are being proposed, understand who will benefit and judge whether that is sufficient. Of course the financial circumstances and powers are different — nobody will pretend otherwise — but those differences do not remove the Executive's responsibility to agree their priorities and explain what they will deliver. With others, we will continue to make the case to the British Government for fair funding and for action on the matters that Westminster controls. The Executive must pursue that case while doing the work that falls to them here. That is why an agreed Budget matters so much. A Budget gives a Department a basis on which to plan, and it gives organisations delivering support greater certainty. Above all, it allows the public to see whether a Minister's stated priorities are being backed with resources. Without agreement, uncertainty travels down through services and into people's lives. Families who already have enough to worry about are left wondering whether help will be made available. It is important and accepted that there must be a responsibility to spend public money well. Any package must be properly costed, with clear eligibility rules and a credible plan for delivery. Ministers should set out the funding that is available, the choices that they have assessed and the timetable for implementation. If a proposal cannot be funded, it needs to be explained why, and an alternative needs to be brought forward. The public deserve that level of honesty and detail. Immediate support must also sit alongside work to reduce household costs over time. As has been referenced, warmer, more efficient homes can make bills more manageable; affordable childcare can make work financially worthwhile; and reliable public transport can widen people's options. Those changes take time, but a family struggling to heat their home this winter needs help while that longer work is done. The Executive parties can support the motion and then demonstrate what that support means around the Executive table. An expression of concern today must lead to a decision, an allocation of funding and a date for delivery. Otherwise, the families that we are discussing will have precisely the same worries after the debate as they had before it. We have an opportunity to show that we have heard people and heard about their struggles. We could see a Budget agreed, bring in a package of support and tell people what help they can expect and when it will reach them. On that basis, we urge people to support our motion.

1,436 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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