Debate contribution: Cost-of-living Increase: Impact

Debate contribution by Mrs Cathy Mason on 17 November 2025.

MLA

Mrs Cathy Mason

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

17 November 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Cost-of-living Increase: Impact

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5245831

Read the official Assembly record

Text

The cost of living continues to rise, and families across the North are feeling it every single day. Inflation sits at 3·8% higher than the EU average and nearly double the Bank of England's target. What does that mean exactly? It means that families are afraid to turn on their heating, that food costs are rising week after week and that the cost of school uniforms is pushing parents into debt. In the middle of all that pressure, as the amendment alludes to, the Education Authority has increased the price of school meals to £3·10 a day. That is a decision that will hit already stretched households hard. That equates to £20 a month extra for each child's school meals. For many families, that is simply not within their budget. Let me be very clear about how that has come about. It has come about as a result of years of chronic underfunding by the British Government, along with years of poor decisions in the Department of Education and a complete lack of leadership from the current Minister. Families simply cannot take another blow, yet, under this Education Minister, the blows seem to keep coming. The cost of school meals is up, while uniform costs are still sky high. Childcare pressures are rising, and more and more parents are now being asked for so-called voluntary school contributions. That is what happens when a Department fails to plan, fails to prioritise and fails to protect families. Of course, it is not solely about what is happening in education. Across our communities, food prices have soared, fuel poverty is deepening, and more families are turning to food banks, including many who never imagined that they would need that help. Our voluntary and community organisations, a number of which we met this morning, are holding the line and stepping in where immediate support is needed. They do incredible work, but they do it with such limited resources and rising demand. That is why the anti-poverty strategy really matters. However, the draft that was published by the Minister for Communities simply does not match the scale of the crisis. It lacks measurable targets, clear actions and the urgency that families are crying out for. It needs to make urgent interventions so that organisations on the ground are properly supported and low-income families are not left to shoulder the crisis alone. Families are not asking for the earth. Every weak decision, delay and missed opportunity by the Department lands directly on a family's kitchen table when it comes to the food that they struggle to afford, the school meals that they now cannot pay for, the heating that they ration and the childcare bill that wipes out their wages. Workers and families deserve better than the draft anti-poverty strategy. That is why we tabled the motion and support the amendment, which we feel adds to the motion. The cost-of-living crisis is real and urgent. The Department of Education and the Department for Communities need to step up, strengthen their plans and start putting families first. Workers and families need action, not excuses; leadership, not deflection; and real support, not weak draft strategies. People need hope, and they need it now.

535 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:58 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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