Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

The method of calculating the rate of inflation needs to be changed but not in the way the Government requires. Is it not a complete sham of an inflation rate when, for example, over the past ten years Fianna Fáil and its partners in Government have facilitated at every turn the greed of speculators and developers, causing the price of a home to rise by 300% or 400%? That is not part of the consumer price index but it is a millstone around the necks of hundreds of thousands of working people and their families. It is like trying to give a picture of life in the 19th century without taking into consideration the burden on the peasant people of Ireland caused by the rackrenting landlords. Is it not a complete sham? If the real cost of living on workers was included in the official rate of inflation, it would be massively greater.

See this speech in context