Cost of living: 'There's days the kids eat and I don't'

"There are days the kids eat and I don't."

Christine Taaffe's children will always be fed - but then the meter runs empty and the bills do not get paid.

The mum-of two has also had to stop taking her kids on day trips, and Splash Sure Start's play group in Lurgan, County Armagh, is one of the few opportunities her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Lexie has to socialise.

It is also where she has picked up her only food for the day - an apple and a bottle of water.

Prices are rising at their fastest rate in 40 years while wages have stagnated.

Róisín Gilmore, with her son Finn and daughter Fiadh, wished she could take her full 12 months maternity leave

Taking into account inflation, the rate at which prices rise, regular pay actually fell by 1.2% compared to 12 months ago.

So people are earning less than the year before, and paying more for essentials.

With no sign of prices levelling out in the near future, Ms Taaffe, who lives in Lurgan, expects it will only get harder.

'You can't afford to take them anywhere'

She said: "It's getting to a point where I have to choose to feed them, heat my home or pay the bills. Sometimes the meter is running empty before I can top it up, because you have to eat.

"I would normally take them on the weekend on a train or a bus to a park - now it has to be somewhere local. Somewhere free like Sure Start. You can't afford to take them anywhere."

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Róisín Gilmore from Craigavon would like to take a full 12 months maternity leave, but the family is unable to afford it.

And when she returns to work - three months sooner than she would like - she will likely work fewer hours because of the cost of childcare.

Meanwhile, her partner is working overtime.

'We're struggling'

Their daughter Fiadh is just eight months old, and son Finn is two.

"With less pay, we're struggling. We're finding we would have gone on day trips with the kids, we're staying more local now because it's just too expensive to go further.

"I need to get back to work soon. Personally I would have loved to take the year off with my two wee ones but I'll have to go back soon."

Budgeting has become a constant stress for Roisin McCusker from Craigavon as fuel, energy and food prices soar.

Roisin McCusker, with her daughter Éirenn Nelson, said money is a constant stress

Since April 2021, petrol has risen by 29%; butter has gone up 10% in a year; second hand cars are up 27% and garden furniture is up 33%.

"The weekly shop's a lot more, I would get the same thing every week and I've just noticed it's sky-high so you really have to budget - no treats. I would have got a takeaway once a week and I don't even do that now," Ms McCusker explained.

"We have the same amount coming and the prices going up, it just worries you. You're constantly checking your banking app just to see what you have and make sure you don't spend too much."

Sure Start's Roisin Rodgers said people are having to choose whether to heat their home or feed their children

Sure Start's family support team leader Roisin Rodgers said they are regularly referring working parents to foodbanks.

"There's only so much money coming into these houses on a weekly basis, and especially with the rise in rent and gas, they're having to make life choices on whether they heat their homes or feed their families.

"Their wages aren't going up to meet the increase in all their costs."

Ms Taaffe wants to see politicians return to Stormont.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has blocked the re-establishment of Northern Ireland's assembly and executive in protest over the post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland.

"Stormont needs to get off their high horse. They need to stop throwing their toys out of the pram, and start listening to the people," she said.