Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Given his busy schedule, I do not know if the Taoiseach has had the opportunity to go shopping in a supermarket recently. The price of bread has increased by 7%, flour by 11% and milk by 8.2%. There has been a significant increase in the price of weekly shopping for an average family. One has little change from €150 for a family of three or from €200 for a family of four. What does the Tánaiste propose to do to take account of inflation? As the Tánaiste is fond of pointing out, there are more than 600,000 people on the lowest level of PAYE, who are effectively outside that net because incomes are so low. Does the Tánaiste have measures in mind for these people, social welfare recipients or pensioners on budget day given that we are close to the top of the euro inflation league?

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