"I'm afraid of my life to turn on the heat"
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What is the opening email about and why is it relevant to the cost‑of‑living crisis?
0818-715-815. This is Liveline on RTE Radio 1.
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Good afternoon, you are very welcome to Live Line. Let me kick off today's show by reading this email to you that came in overnight. Dear Kieran, I'm writing this letter because quite honestly, I don't know where else to turn. We're at our wits' end with the cost of living and trying to survive in today's climate. My husband works seven days a week and I work six days a week and despite all of that we're only just keeping our heads above water. There's something Incredibly disheartening about working six or seven days a week only to see such a large portion of what you earn disappear into the cost of getting to work in the first place. We need our cars to earn a living, but the cost of running those cars is putting even more pressure on our household finances.
And I have to ask, when our politicians go home from the doll, do they know what it feels like to put fuel into your car? Knowing that you need that car just to get to work and that the cost of getting there is taking away money that your family desperately needs. We deserve to be able to live, not just survive. You're sincerely a hardworking Irish parent who is simply asking for a fair chance. That is the email that we got in to Liveline at RTE dot IE overnight since we got that email. Diesel prices have marginally gone up, petrol prices have gone up, crude oil prices have gone up, and all, as the news at one tells us that wholesale electricity prices went up. By seventy seven percent over the twelve months to August.
In other words, as the weather closes in and what is it, five months since protests rocked the country, fuel in all its forms, however you're getting it, whatever you're doing with it, is going to get more and more and is getting more and more expensive. So here is my question to you have you filled the home heating oil tank in the last little while? Or are you waiting to do so? How much Did it cost? How much do you suspect it will cost? Five one five five one is the text number. Are you watching prices at the pump? Like that person who wrote the email, like a hawk, O eight seven four eight four double eight double eight. That's the WhatsApp number. Are you worried about how you're gonna get through the coming months, through the winter in particular?
O eight one eight seven one five eight one five if you want to give me a call. James Gagan is on the line. James, where are you at the moment?
I'm actually sitting on a tractor in a field in Castle and Gagan in West Mead, we're harvesting Sailage here.
And how much is it costing you to be operating that tractor, James?
Uh the computer readouts uh when I'm loading here we're on fifty six liters an hour when we're working for for one tractor. That's those eighty five, ninety euro an hour at the minute for one. We have two of those working side by side and then we have two more machines, one rake and one in the pit. So our diesel bill for today somewhere around fifteen hundred euro. Um, probably up five hundred in the last three months.
Is that sustainable?
No, not a hope. Um we're working for dairy farmers and the dairy farmers have had a very bad year. Uh, with cr with the between the drought and a poor make or uh uh poor MIG price, they simply don't have the money um to pay us. mm most of them are will be in basically arrears with their contractors and uh It's a tough situation and we're left carrying the can and we can't afford to And there's nothing we can do and there's nothing they can do. It's a it's a a serious catch forty two situation. And the only one that can help us are the government and they are nowhere to be seen. Well that's our
opinion. Well we we'll talk about the the government, what they could do or should do in a minute. But um uh do you find yourself in a situation just where you're going out to do jobs and you know full well That The invoice won't be paid. That the farmer can't pay it.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the opening email about and why is it relevant to the cost‑of‑living crisis?
0:00–9:37
2
How are rising fuel and diesel prices affecting farmers and contractors on the ground?
9:37–18:53
3
What impact do government taxes and carbon‑tax policies have on fuel and electricity costs?
18:53–26:36
4
Why are older pensioners (OAPs) struggling to heat their homes this winter?
26:36–34:36
5
What solutions are being suggested for cheaper heating and energy for vulnerable households?
34:36–41:30
6
How might upcoming protests or a community meeting influence government action on fuel prices?
41:30–50:02
7
What are callers saying about the fairness of subsidies for data‑centres versus ordinary citizens?
50:02–59:58
8
What are the key take‑aways and next steps for listeners after this discussion?
59:58–1:08:10