Cost-of-living protest calls for extra help for families in Northern Ireland

People Before Profit party member Gerry Carroll made the call at the demonstration outside City Hall on Saturday afternoon.

A small crowd gathered at the landmark building with placards demanding action to help families struggling with soaring bills.

The event, which was organised by People Before Profit, comes amid a series of recent significant price rise announcements by energy companies in Northern Ireland.

Stormont recently agreed a £200 payment for people in receipt of certain benefits to help with energy costs.

Mr Carroll told the protest: “There’s a £200 payment for some people and I wouldn’t begrudge anybody getting £200 into their bank accounts at this time but prices on average are up by £1,000 to £2000 a household, so we need to see £1,000 at least going out to every single household across our country and society here to a make sure they have a chance of keeping their head above the parapet.”

Separately on Saturday, Sinn Fein’s Conor Murphy said the UK Government needed to do more to support workers and families.

“The price of heating your home and putting fuel in the car continues to spiral out of control and people simply cannot afford it,” he said.

“Workers and families need urgent solutions to cut their household bills.”

He added: “The British government need to immediately increase taxes on big energy corporations who are making an absolute fortune on the backs of ordinary people.

“And they should abandon their cruel plans to punish working families through increasing national insurance payments which kicks in this month.”