David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This motion seeks fair play. Time and again the Government says that the Opposition does not come forward with solutions. We do come forward with solutions, but the problem is that the Government does not like them. The Government does not listen and it does not act.

The Minister's party has no regard for what I would consider to be fair play; if it did, it would support this motion. There are two central requests in this motion which should be accepted and implemented by the Government. One is that the fuel allowance payment is doubled for the month of February and the other is that all of those in receipt of the PUP, the 480,000 workers who have lost their jobs, temporarily or in the longer term through no fault of their own, are given access to the fuel allowance payment. The Minister's answers to those requests is "No".

I have said to the Minister and her colleagues time and again in this Chamber that Fine Gael represents a cosseted, privileged class. The Minister does not like it when I say that but the reality is that it is true. The Minister does not like it because it is true and she does not have any defence to that argument. Three of the Minister's senior ministerial colleagues in the Government sat down a number of weeks ago and hatched a plan between them to increase the pay of one senior civil servant by €81,000, an amount that many people on the front line in hospitals will never see as a salary. This is not a salary for that one individual but a pay increase of €81,000. Three senior Government Ministers sat down, hatched that plan and as late as yesterday, were defending it with the L'Oréal-type defence that the individual is worth it. Yet, when it comes to giving ordinary workers and families a bit of a break by giving them access to the fuel allowance because they are staying at home longer, their children are not at school and they have to heat their homes but are struggling to pay their bills, what does the Minister say? She says "No". Again, it is "No" from this Government because it represents a cosseted, privileged class. Its priority is those in the upper echelons of society and not those who need support the most. It is a disgrace that on an issue as important as this, when we are trying to ensure people and families are given adequate support to pay for basics like heating their homes, the Government's response is "No". It is shameful.

See this speech in context