Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sinn Féin has tabled a motion tonight after people have queued for food parcels today. As parents are sitting down wondering how they will feed their kids supper and what is in store tomorrow and next week, they are watching this debate hoping the Government will recognise their hardships and plight. The Minister, who is the Minister for Social Protection not just for the Fine Gael Party but supposedly for the State, failed to address any of that. She showed no empathy whatsoever for people on the breadline. She showed no empathy for the fact, as outlined by Barnardos, that one in ten people visited food banks last year or that one in three of those surveyed have gone without food to make sure their kids could eat. This is the type of Ireland we are talking about. The point has been made that it is great we have a booming economy, but it makes no difference to those individuals if the Government cannot turn a booming economy into real change and real delivery for ordinary people. We cannot have a situation where GDP is growing but the queues at the food banks are growing and doubling.

The strategy from Fine Gael today was to kick the messenger, with the Taoiseach having a go at Barnardos by questioning its survey. We do not have to rely on Barnardos. Any volunteer involved will say the demand on services has increased and that there are waiting lists. They will say it is difficult to keep up with the cost-of-living crisis and the demand on food banks because people were not protected enough by the Government in the previous budget. Let us look at the social enterprise organisation, FoodCloud. In 2021, it delivered 7.4 million meals to charities throughout the State, which subsequently provided the meals to families who needed that type of support through food banks and in other ways. That is the reality under this Government. It is the reality the Minister and the Taoiseach do not want to accept. It is time for them to get their heads out of the sand. People are struggling despite what happened in the October budget. There was a conscious decision taken by the Cabinet that core social welfare rates would not be kept in line with inflation. That is a fact. Core social welfare rates were increased to below the inflation rate. That means people are poorer this year than they were last year. The consequences of that mean more people will turn to charities, soup kitchens, and food banks for support.

This is the time members of the Government need to understand where people are at. They need to understand the plight. They need to get down from their ivory tower and recognise that not all of them in their little cliques are as protected or as insulated from the cost-of-living crisis as the rest, because there are two parts to Ireland. There are people who are protected and are not worried about the cost-of-living crisis, but there are many thousands, indeed, tens of thousands of families who are under massive pressure. That is why Sinn Féin has tabled the motion, to which the Government did not even respond.

There is a need for additional supports. A spring bonus should be paid to 1.3 million people, such as carers, people on disability allowances, pensioners and social welfare recipients. Energy supports should be extended to those working families who have been abandoned by the Government. The policy we put forward to the Government last week should be implemented, making sure those being screwed by mortgage interest rates are protected. The introduction of mortgage interest relief would absorb some of the increased mortgage costs those working families have had to pay. Sinn Féin is coming up with solutions time and again, but what we have is a Government that is tone deaf to the plight, misery and struggles ordinary families are facing in the middle of this cost-of-living crisis.

I again say the Government needs to get its head out of the sand and recognise where people are at. It should address this by bringing forward a suite of measures, including mortgage interest relief, double payments, extending the cuts to excise rebates, a proper rent credit, the cutting of childcare costs appropriately, and the increase of social welfare rates to a level that will protect the most vulnerable people from inflation. These are just a number of measures a real Government that understands the plight of people, a Sinn Féin Government, would do if we were in the Government's position.

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