The Costs to Be Together
The price of being together is rising. The price of being alone is falling. And somewhere in that gap, we are losing the real common sense.
Recent weeks in Ireland, with longer evenings and sunnier days, it is easy to have forgotten the consistent rain we had at the start of the year. In most parts of the country it rained for 40 days (and 40 nights), with parts of West Kerry experiencing 56 consecutive days.
With the cold and rain, it was no great surprise that there was much attention and concern about the rising price of home heating and fuel. A report published in May 2026 by Eurostat revealed Ireland’s household electricity prices are the highest in Europe - 40% above the EU average in the second half of 2025. This is not new. For consecutive years, we have been dealing with high bills every winter.
Famous for It
So as the days become drier, can we turn down the thermostat and begin to embrace the outdoors, spending more time with friends and family in the pursuit of leisure? Despite being viewed as a social bunch globally, Ireland has one of the lower levels of (self-reported) time spent with friends and family for social reasons.
According to the European Social Survey (2023), 50% of people in Ireland report socially meeting with friends and family at least once a week. This is compared to 67% of people in Belgium, 74% in Sweden - where the climate is considerably colder - and 77% in Portugal. The pattern holds in both warm and cold countries. So what is happening in Ireland, famous for craic and hospitality, that has eroded our investment in time together?
Follow the Price Signal
One explanation is the economics - how some activities are financially incentivised while others are quietly penalised. CSO consumer price index data tracks two leisure categories across the Irish economy.
Since 2013, the cost of at-home, solo, screen-based leisure - streaming services, internet access, computers and tablets - has fallen steadily and significantly.
Since 2023, the cost of out-of-home, social leisure - sports clubs, children’s activities, cinema, theatre and concerts - has risen sharply, with no sign of slowing.
The divergence shapes behaviour. It determines who can afford to show up.
In practice, bringing your kids to training, joining a club, going to a match, or getting to a gig is increasingly beyond reach for a lot of people.
Meanwhile, the culture of isolation - bigger screens, longer feeds, more to stream - is relatively more affordable every month.
When we talk about loneliness and the challenges with civic and community life, we should also follow the price signal. When the economics of modern life quietly make connection expensive and disconnection a cheaper option, the choice isn’t really a choice.
If we want a more engaged, connected society - who is responsible for making that affordable?
The Feed That Finds You
Which brings me to an important piece of research published by the Hope and Courage Collective in April 2026. The Ireland in Focus: Mind the Gap report (April 2026) shows public attitudes are becoming steadily more inclusive, but political narratives - particularly on migration - are increasingly shaped by far-right framing.
The research shows that most people hold empathetic views towards each other, and towards minority groups in particular. 66% agree that immigrants contribute positively to Irish culture and community, up from 64% in 2024. 79% believe working-class people struggle with housing and bills because the system is rigged against them, a slight increase from 77% in 2024. 75% agree that transgender individuals should have the freedom to live their lives, rising from 70% in 2024.
The researchers analysed 761,930 incidences of far-right narratives online relating to Ireland, driven by 205,840 unique authors across blogs, online news sites and social media platforms.
One of the more alarming findings - common for years across global propaganda campaigns - is that Irish social media users account for just 25% of far-right narratives relating to or referencing Ireland. The significant majority of this content originates outside the State.
According to Semrush analytics tracking Irish traffic, twitter.com receives 4.4 million Irish visitors a month - placing it alongside major news sites such as The Irish Times and TheJournal. YouTube, Facebook and Instagram each draw multiples of the audiences of broadcasters like RTÉ News, Virgin Media News or the BBC News.
For people who cannot afford the rising costs of spending time with friends out of the home - but who have invested in connected TVs and always-on internet connections - free web content is how many are viewing the world, rather than debating, discussing and joking about it in person.
According to the same Hope and Courage research, the public strongly favours social investment approaches to public safety. 76% say the best way to keep communities safe is to provide services and resources, compared with 24% who favour restricting immigration as a safety strategy.
The public, as ever, are ahead of policy. Many are already calculating the cost of heating their homes and the fuel to drive to a friend’s house - knowing that connection matters, but also that it has to be budgeted for.
The question, as we move into summer and leave the rain coats at home: how will we sustain affordable social connection - to laugh and share stories together - when the long winter returns.