Dad Misses Spending Time With His Children As Cost of Living Forces Him To Work Overtime

Mark Dawnay Cost of Living Crisis inflation Tough Economic Times

By Joel Brussels , Parent Herald Sep 16, 06:55 am

Photo: (Photo : PAUL FAITH/AFP via Getty Images)

A dad based in Dublin feels that he is having to work overtime due to the cost of living crisis and he is missing precious time with his children as a result, according to Extra.

Mark Dawnay has been working as a security guard for more than 20 years now. He has found it increasingly difficult to survive on his living wage nowadays. To help ease financial hardships and pay the bills, Dawnay has recently started taking on additional shifts and overtime.

He is growing concerned about the impact these extra working hours are having on his family. Dawnay is worried that his already stretched household finances will face even greater financial strain with further price increases.

Dawnay forced to work additional shifts and overtime

Dawnay said he has the option of doing overtime and any time he decides to do it, he wants to treat the family. Now he is doing overtime just to pay the bills. He said he does 12 hour shifts. Before he'd do 84 hours per two weeks but now he'd do 96 hours just to pay the bills.

He told Dublin Live that some people are a lot worse than him but he kind of feels it now. He used to do overtime on his own accord, but now he has to do it. Dawnay said he works days, nights and weekends and if he does two nights in a row, he is out for another two days.

He said he goes straight to bed and the kids don't see him, then the next day he is like a zombie and if he does an extra shift that is much worse. Dawnay added that he has often done five nights in a row.

Dawnay explained that he gets a good wage but that wage no longer covers the rising costs that the people of Ireland face. His bills unfortunately are also increasing and with that, so is the pressure of having to pay them.

Dawnay feeling the pinch during these tough economic times

He said that he is feeling the pinch as much as everybody else because of the cost of living right across the board. Dawnay said he has a car that he needs for work and the petrol costs are going up. He has three kids going to school but because he has a full-time job, he does not get any assistance like a Back to School allowance or SUSI grants.

To make matters worse for Dawnay, the price of food and electricity bills are also going up. He said that his electricity bills were below €300 every two months but now they are climbing, and he fears the next one could be over €400.

Dawnay is tired of having to work long hours to make ends meet and he hopes discussing his situation will open the eyes of those in government, according to the Irish Mirror.