‘As a working parent, I’ve done reasonably well’

MARKETING executive Jennifer Kilduff, right, commutes by car into her office in central Dublin twice a week.

The deferral of the restoration of full fuel duty until next spring means she is happy with the Budget despite the new €2-a-litre price at the pumps.

She says: ‘I drive about 300km a week on average. I commute from west Dublin into Dublin city centre twice a week. So I normally top up with a tank of petrol every two weeks or so. I was pretty worried about the Budget.

‘I thought I’d be paying €2 a litre for petrol soon enough. But it’s worked out OK for me.’

She adds: ‘I know that the carbon tax has been added on, but at about two-and-a-half cent a litre, it’s not huge. The big one was that they put off the excise duty restoration until well after Christmas.’

As well as the boost from keeping fuel prices down, the one-off childcare payments will help her young family’s finances too. She says: ‘As a parent of young kids, I got a boost from the announcements on childcare benefit payment. So overall, I’ve done reasonably well here. It would be nice to take the bus a bit more, but it’s just not possible with the kids or my work schedule. I’m kind of dependent on the car in that sense.’

Jennifer, from Castleknock, Dublin 15 is a mother to two boys, aged four and two-anda-half; with one in preschool, the other in creche. Since the pandemic she has been working from home two or three days a week. She says: ‘This has allowed me to balance work and home life and was a welcome change as a full-time working mother. My marketing role means my work week is varied and the number of commuting days can fluctuate.’